Pyongyang, April 26 (KCNA) -- The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Supreme Commander of the armed forces of the DPRK, received a congratulatory message from G. A. Zhuganov, chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and chief of the party group of the State Duma, on April 23.

The message said:

On behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, I extend sincere congratulations to you on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of your first visit to Russia and the first anniversary of the liberation of Kursk Region from the Bandera forces, the two occasions of weighty importance in the history of the Russia-DPRK relations.

Your state visit to Russia in April 2019 served as a historic event for the two countries and powerfully promoted the development of Russia-DPRK cooperation based on the glorious tradition of friendship and good neighborliness provided in the period of the Soviet Union.

As the treaty on comprehensive strategic partnership between the Russian Federation and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was concluded, our relations have reached to an unprecedented high level and entered a new era.

The terms of the treaty could be perfectly implemented as units of the Korean People's Army were deployed in Kursk Region to liberate it from the neo-Nazi invaders according to your decision.

The successful termination of the Kursk liberation operations demonstrated before the world the durability and invincibility of the militant friendship between Russia and the DPRK.

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to you and all the Korean people for your help in the liberation of Kursk Region, and we will never forget the heroic feats of the valiant Korean soldiers who shed their bloods and sacrificed their lives for Russia and for our common freedom.

We value the traditional relations of friendship between the two parties very much and will make every effort to steadily strengthen the friendship between Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for the interests of the peoples of the two countries in the future, too.

I wish you good health and happiness and the fraternal Korean people great success and prosperity.

I pay high tribute to you. -0-