North Korea reports plans for visit from Syrian president Assad

Syrian President Bashar alassad is reportedly planning to make a state visit to North Korea.

The North’s state news agency said the Syrian head was interested in travelling to the foreign country and meeting with leader Kim Jong-un.

The KCNA report said Mr Assad had made the comments while receiving the credentials for the North Korean ambassador.

“I am going to visit the DPRK and meet HE Kim Jong-un,” Assad was quoted as saying, using the acronym for the North’s official name.

There was no indication that such a trip had been planned.

It would be the first time Mr Kim Jong-un has hosted a head of state since assuming power in 2011.

He has undertaken a flurry of diplomatic activity recently, meeting China’s president last month. He is also scheduled to attend a critical summit with US president Donald Trump in Singapore on 12 June where the issue of North Korea’s denuclearisation will be at the top of the agenda.

Reports had also quoted Mr Assad saying he was sure Mr Kim that would “achieve the final victory and realise the reunification of Korea without fail”. Mr Assad’s comments reportedly came as he received the credentials of North Korean ambassador Mun Jong-nam.

Syria, an ally of the North, has made no comment on the reported plan.

The two countries have previously been accused of cooperating on chemical weapons, but both nations have denied the accusations.

The North established diplomatic relations with Syria in 1966 and sent troops and weapons during the Arabisraeli war in October 1973.

A UN report leaked in February accused the North of making 40 shipments to Syria between 2012 and 2017 of materials including acidresistant tiles, valves and pipes that could be used to make chemical weapons.

Mr Trump announced on Friday that his planned meeting with Mr Kim would go ahead after earlier cancelling the summit. White House officials have cast the roller-coaster public statements as reflective of the hard-nosed negotiation by the two nations.

Three teams of officials in the US, Singapore and the Korean demilitarised zone have been meeting this week on preparations for the summit.

US defence officials have repeatedly assessed the North to be on the threshold of having the capability to strike anywhere in the continental US with a nuclear-tipped missile – a capacity Mr Trump has said he would not tolerate. 0 Bashar al-assad is interested in a state visit to North Korea, according to reports from a state news agency