Pyongyang, August 25 (KCNA) -- General Secretary Kim Jong Il is now paying an unofficial visit to Siberia and the Far East Region of Russia.

This visit taking place on the significant 10th anniversary of the DPRK-Russia Moscow Declaration marks a historic occasion in boosting the friendly relations between the two countries.

The friendly relations between the DPRK and Russia have a long history and they have developed under the special care of the leaders of the two countries.

During the arduous anti-Japanese armed struggle President Kim Il Sung put forward the slogan "Let Us Defend the Soviet Union with Arms!" and waged the active military activities to defend the Soviet Union, the first socialist state in the world.

As evidenced by the incident of Lake Khasan and the victory won in the Khalkhin-Gol, the Korean People's Revolutionary Army (KPRA) conducted vigorous operations and large and small battles to harass the enemy's rear in the areas along the Soviet Union-Manchuria border under the order of Kim Il Sung, thus greatly contributing to frustrating the Japanese imperialists' scheme to invade the Soviet Union.

Under his farsighted measure, the KPRA went from the large-unit operations into the small-unit operations. This made it possible to foil the Japanese imperialists' scheme for invasion of the Soviet Union without giving any pretext for them. Thus, it helped the Soviet Union accelerate the victory in the Patriotic War by moving a large number of its elite divisions in the east into the western front.

Later Kim Il Sung issued an order for the final attack to the whole units of the KPRA in August 1945 to liberate Korea after penetrating deep into the rapidly changing situation with the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan.

The soldiers of the Soviet Red Army took part in the sacred war for Korea's liberation, performing brilliant merits. The Korean people always remember this and the Liberation Tower, erected at the foot of picturesque Moran Hill, serves as a symbol of the DPRK-Russia friendship still now.

Kim Il Sung visited the Soviet Union nine times and strengthened the ties of the DPRK-Russia friendship through meetings and talks with its party and state leaders. He also saw to it that cooperation and exchange had been boosted in political, economic, cultural, military and other fields between the two countries.

Leader Kim Jong Il has worked heart and soul to develop the DPRK-Russia friendship in keeping with the requirement of the new century.

The historic meeting and talks between Kim Jong Il and the then Russian President Putin and the adoption of the DPRK-Russia Moscow Declaration in August 2001 can be said to have been a great event in view of the history of the bilateral friendly relations or the progressive development of mankind in the new century.

Earlier on July 19, 2000, such documents were adopted between the two countries as a joint declaration and the bilateral treaty of friendship, good neighborliness and cooperation signed by their leaders.

During Kim Jong Il's visit to Moscow, the leaders of the two countries reconfirmed the historic significance of these documents and, on this basis, reached an agreement on the specific orientation and measures to further develop the bilateral cooperation in political, economic, military, scientific and technological, cultural and other fields as well as in the issues of ensuring peace and stability in Northeast Asia and the rest of the world and establishing a righteous and new world structure.

In August 2002 Kim Jong Il visited the Far East Region of Russia, which became one of major events drawing the world attention.

Russia's Far East Region shares the River Tuman with the DPRK, and the two countries have common interests in the region in economic and military aspects.

In this region the state leaders of the two countries met with each other this time.

Their historic meeting and talks are further hardening the historic roots of the DPRK-Russia friendship and deepening this friendship.

The excellent friendly relations of the two countries with deep roots will remain unchanged in the future, too.