North Korea commends Russia’s ‘sacred struggle’ in holiday message

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North Korea released a statement of support for Russia on Tuesday, acknowledging the country’s celebration of its Victory Day holiday.

In the message, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un commended the Russian people for winning “a great victory in the great war of justice to annihilate fascism that threatened the destiny of mankind by displaying matchless heroism and self-sacrificing spirit,” according to Korean Central News Agency, a state media outlet.

Victory Day marks the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender at the end of World War II. 

According to the KCNA dispatch, Kim took the opportunity to “extended warm militant greetings once again to the president, army and people of Russia who courageously turned out in the sacred struggle to realize international justice and defend global peace against the high-handed and arbitrary practices of the imperialists” in World War II.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the 7th enlarged plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang, North Korea. (KCNA via REUTERS)

Victory Day is celebrated on May 8 by European countries. However, the 1945 communiqué announcing the surrender arrived after midnight in the then-USSR, and the holiday has been celebrated on May 9 ever since.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev commemorated his country’s Victory Day on Tuesday by defending Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

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Russian soldiers march toward Red Square to attend a dress rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow Sunday, May 7, 2023. The parade in Moscow’s Red Square on May 9 celebrates 78 years of the victory in WWII. (AP Photo)

In a lengthy tweet Monday, Medvedev, also the deputy chair of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, said Russia would defeat the “hideous Bandera neo-nazism” in Ukraine as Russia once helped defeat Nazism in Germany.

“Unfortunately, today’s Europe and its squalid leaders have a very short memory. But we will always remember the heroes of the Second World War. Our country eradicated fascism in 1945,” Medvedev wrote. “Have no doubt: in present-day Europe, we will crush the hideous Bandera neo-nazism, cherished so dearly by the heirs of the Third Reich in the EU.”

Since the invasion of invasion of Ukraine, Putin has made similar comparisons between Ukraine’s administration and Nazi rule in Germany in the 1940s. 

Russian RS-24 Yars ballistic missiles roll toward Red Square to attend a dress rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow. The parade at Moscow’s Red Square on May 9 celebrates 78 years of the victory in WWII. (AP Photo)

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Kim has attempted to maintain a strategic friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin as both countries shoulder international sanctions from NATO and the United Nations.

Fox News Digital’s Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.

Timothy Nerozzi is a writer for Fox News Digital. You can follow him on Twitter @timothynerozzi and can email him at timothy.nerozzi@fox.com