Vladimir Putin described his first meeting with Kim Jong-un as "substantial"

Russian President Vladimir Putin convened his first face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, "substantial," and said the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula "it's possible", but Pyongyang requires security guarantees in return.

"It's possible … North Korea needs guarantees of security, preservation of its sovereignty, that's all," Putin said during a press conference at the end of a meeting with Kim in Vladivostok, bathed by the Pacific Ocean.

The Vladivostok summit is held after the failure of the last meeting between Kim and US President Donald Trump last February in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi. Kim appealed for Russia 's support to ease the sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for its nuclear program, while Putin wanted to make Russia a key player in a world – wide affair.

"We must restore the power of international law, to return to the state in which international law, and not the right of the strongest, determines the situation in the world, "added the Russian leader.

Putin said he would discuss with Washington what he had discussed with Kim. "There are no secrets, there are no plots, President Kim himself asked us to inform the US side of our position," he said. declared.

The Russian president said that his country's interests coincided with those of the United States in that they were both in favor of "complete denuclearization".

"In terms of reducing the threat of nuclear conflicts, it is certainly a common priority," he said.

"I had the impression that the North Korean leader shared the same point of view and that we needed security guarantees, that's all, we need to think about this together," he said. he concluded.

Kim said for her part that she had come to Vladivostok to try "the means of a peaceful settlement" of the nuclear conflict on the Korean peninsula, which, in his view, is generating "priority interest" in the world.

Kim, who also described as "very substantial" the only meeting with the Kremlin leader, was "very happy" to visit Russia, which he described as "friendly" and "great" neighbor. "I hope that our negotiations will continue in the same way, in a useful and constructive way," he said.

Relations between Pyongyang and Moscow date back to the Soviet era, when the USSR gave power to Kim Il-sung, grandfather of Kim Jong-un and founder of the People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), which supported him crucially during the Cold War.

However, relations have been unstable many times because Kim Il Sung knew how to play Russian-Chinese rivalry at the time to obtain concessions from both neighbors.

Shortly after his first election as President of Russia, Vladimir Putin tried to normalize his relations and met three times with Kim Jong-il, father and predecessor of the current leader. The first meeting was held in Pyongyang in 2000, making Putin the first Russian leader to visit North Korea.