SEOUL – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent a message of sympathy to Russian President Vladimir Putin over a massacre at a Moscow concert hall and said nothing can justify “heinous terrorism” against human lives, the KCNA state news agency said on March 24.

Mr Kim “expressed deep condolences and sympathy” to Mr Putin and to the Russian people, as well as to the victims and their families, after the news of heavy casualties caused by “a large-scale terrorist attack in (the) Moscow region”, KCNA said.

The message, which KCNA said was sent on March 23, said “consistent is the stand of the DPRK government opposing all sorts of terrorism, and nothing can justify the heinous terrorism threatening human life”.

DPRK is short for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Mr Kim and Mr Putin have shown blossoming personal friendship as the ties between their countries grew in recent months following the North Korean leader’s visit to Russia’s far east in 2023 and Pyongyang’s weapons aid for Moscow in its war with Ukraine.

Russia said it had arrested all four gunmen suspected of carrying out the March 22 shooting, which the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria terror group had claimed responsibility for.

Russia’s state Investigative Committee said at least 133 people had been killed in the attack. REUTERS