Assad to meet Kim, says North

Seoul: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said he plans to visit North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, North Korean state media reported on Sunday, potentially the first meeting between Kim and another head of state in Pyongyang.

"I am going to visit the DPRK and meet HE Kim Jong Un," Assad said on May 30, North Korea's KCNA news agency reported, using the initials of the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian President's office.

Assad reportedly made the remarks as he received the credentials of North Korean ambassador Mun Jong Nam.

Pyongyang and Damascus maintain good relations, and UN monitors have accused North Korea of cooperating with Syria on chemical weapons, a charge the North denies.

Both countries have faced international isolation, North Korea over its nuclear weapons programme, and Syria over its tactics during a bloody civil war.

Since the beginning of the year, however, North Korea's Kim has launched a flurry of diplomatic meetings with leaders in China and South Korea, and is scheduled to hold a summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12.

Since taking power in 2011, Kim has not publicly met another head of state in North Korea.

"The world welcomes the remarkable events in the Korean peninsula brought about recently by the outstanding political calibre and wise leadership of HE Kim Jong Un," Assad said, according to KCNA. "I am sure that he will achieve the final victory and realise the reunification of Korea without fail."

According to South Korea's foreign ministry, North Korea established diplomatic relations with Syria in 1966, opening its embassy in Damascus. Syria opened its mission in Pyongyang in 1969.

Close military cooperation between the two countries began when North Korea sent some 530 troops, including pilots, tank drivers and missile personnel, to Syria during the Arab-Israeli war in 1973.

US sets terms

US defence secretary Jim Mattis said on Sunday North Korea will receive relief only after it takes clear and irreversible steps to end its nuclear programme, adding it would be a bumpy road to a summit between US and North Korean leaders. The comments sought to address concern the US may be rushing to strike a breakthrough in the unprecedented summit.

"We can anticipate, at best, a bumpy road to the (negotiations)," Mattis said in Singapore.