Kim Jong-un congratulates Lukashenko on seventh term, North Korean state media reports

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Kim Jong-un congratulates Lukashenko on seventh term, North Korean state media reports

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko [REUTERS]

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko [REUTERS]

 
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent a congratulatory message to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who was recently re-elected to his seventh term, according to state media Tuesday.
 
"I extend congratulations to you on your re-election as president of the Republic of Belarus," Kim was quoted as saying in the message sent the previous day, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
 

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"I express my expectation that the friendly and cooperative relations between the DPRK and the Republic of Belarus would develop in conformity with the interests of the peoples of the two countries," Kim also said.
 
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea.
 
Lukashenko won a seventh five-year term as Belarusian president in last month's election, further extending his 30-year rule.
 
Tuesday's report follows a statement two weeks earlier from Kim's sister, Kim Yo-jong, in which she denied Lukashenko's reported claim that North Korea had proposed a summit and emphasized that "veracity and frankness" should be the starting point in relations between the two nations.
 
North Korea has been widely expected to strengthen ties with Belarus as its alignment with Russia deepens. Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
 
For Lukashenko's previous presidential wins, North Korea either disclosed a congratulatory message sent under the name of Kim Yong-nam, then president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, or did not report on such messages at all.

Yonhap
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