AKIPRESS.COM - Vladimir Putin has offered Russia’s help to break the deadlock over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program in his first meeting with the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un.

Putin and Kim greeted each other warmly on Thursday, shaking hands before beginning two days of highly anticipated talks at a university in Russia’s far-eastern city of Vladivostok. TV coverage showed Kim arriving in a limousine before being met by Putin, who smiled and gestured to Kim before they both walked inside, Guardian reports.

Putin reportedly told Kim that Russia supported his efforts to normalise North Korea’s relations with the US, adding that he hoped this week’s talks would help clarify Russia’s potential role in reviving stalled negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

Their meeting comes just two months after a second summit in Hanoi between the North Korean leader and Donald Trump ended without agreement and differing explanations for their failure to make progress on denuclearising the Korean peninsula.

Kim earlier struck an upbeat tone and praised the Russian president when his train crossed the border at Khasan on Wednesday, saying: “I have heard a lot of good things about your country and wanted to visit it for a long time.

“Seven years have passed since I took charge of the country, but I did not have a chance to visit Russia until now.”

Kim told Russia’s state-owned Rossiya-24 that he was hoping for a “successful and useful” visit and would like to discuss with Putin the “settlement of the situation in the Korean Peninsula” as well as bilateral ties.

Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told Russian media the summit would focus on North Korea’s nuclear program, noting that Russia would seek to “consolidate the positive trends” stemming from Trump’s meetings with Kim.