Putin shares information on upcoming summit with U.S. to N. Korean leader Kim

Before meeting President Lee Jae Myung at the White House later this month, U.S. President Donald Trump is set to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week in Alaska.

Ahead of that meeting, Putin spoke over the phone with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Kim Bo-kyoung reports on Kim's reaction, and what could be on the table when Putin and Trump meet.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a phone call on Tuesday, briefed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the upcoming summit between himself and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Putin is set to meet Trump in Alaska on Friday to discuss the Ukraine war, as U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to Russia on August 6th laid the foundations for the summit to take place.

According to the Kremlin on Tuesday local time, Putin highly assessed Pyongyang's support for operations in the Kursk region, and the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to further developing cooperative relations in all areas in line with the mutual defense treaty they signed in June last year.

According to the Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday, Kim Jong-un expressed his full support.

Meanwhile, the White House has reconfirmed that the Putin-Trump summit is going to be a bilateral one, not involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The White House press secretary added that the goal is to have a better understanding of how the war could end.

"I think this is a listening exercise for the president. Look, only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present, and so this is for the president to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end."

When asked about whether the issue of dispatching North Korean troops to Russia would be discussed, Tammy Bruce, State Department Spokesperson, said the content of the dialogue can only be known by the two leaders.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on Tuesday vowed not to give eastern Ukrainian land the Donbas region to Russia, adding that it would open a bridgehead for a Russian offensive.

He said Moscow would have to agree to a ceasefire before territorial issues are discussed.

Kim Bo-kyoung, Arirang News.