Vladimir Putin invites Kim Jong-un to Russia saying the US-North Korean summit defused conflict

FOLLOWING the success of the US-North Korea summit in Singapore, Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked North Korean official Kim Yong-nam at a meeting to pass an invitation to visit Russia in September to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Kim Yong-nam is head of the presidium of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly.

Mr Putin also said he welcomed Tuesday’s meeting between the North Korean leader and US President Donald Trump in Singapore.

Mr Putin says the US-North Korean summit has reduced the threat of a major conflict.

Speaking at a meeting Thursday in the Kremlin with the North Korean parliament speaker, Putin said “we welcome and highly assess” the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Mr Putin noted that the standoff over North Korea “worried the entire world and could entail grave consequences, including a major military conflict.”

He added that the meeting helped “push back that unfavourable scenario and raised prospects for solving all the problems with peaceful and diplomatic means.”

The head of the Supreme People’s Assembly, Kim Yong-nam, handed Mr Putin a letter from the North Korean leader.

Mr Putin reaffirmed his invitation to Kim to visit Russia.