The letter said, in part:
“Observing this anniversary of Korea’s liberation from the colonial yoke, we also pay tribute to our compatriots who gave their lives for victory in WWII and the freedom of Korea.”
Mr Putin made it clear that ever wider bilateral cooperation and ever stronger traditional relations of friendship and mutual understanding, largely encouraged by summits in Pyongyang and Moscow, met the interests of the Russian and Korean peoples and contributed to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in North-East Asia.
The letter was delivered to Kim Jong-il by Konstantin Pulikovsky, the Russian President’s Plenipotentiary Envoy in the Far Eastern Federal District, who accompanied the North Korean leader on his trip home after the official part of his visit to Russia was over.