North Korean Leader to Visit Moscow.
BLITZER: It's official. The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, is expected to attend World War II victory celebrations in Moscow. That, according to a Russian official who asked not to be identify. It will be the first trip outside of the country since he took over in 2011. Russia and North Korea have declared 2015 a friendship year for the two countries. Our correspondent, Paula Hancocks, has more on the ties that is bind.</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What do you give the man who has everything? Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, chose race horses for Korean's former leader, Kim Jong-Il, a relationship that Kim Jong-Un appears keen to nurture. The days of warm embraces between the leaders of China and North Korea have gone. Kim Jong-Un hasn't met him yet. A nuclear program followed by international sanctions soured relations and the execution of a man China knew and trusted did not help. So Kim is turning to Russia. The former Soviet Union subsidized North Korea heavily before 1991, so why not its successor?</s>ANDREI LANKOV, KOCKMIN UNIVERSITY: Soviet Union was beginning to spend or if you like, waste money on the foreign policy, to buy influence, to buy support. For Russia, the foreign policy is in an area where money is not spent but earned.</s>HANCOCKS: Trade between the two countries was worth $100 million in 2013, a drop in the ocean compared to China's $6.5 billion. Last year, Putin cancelled $10 billion of North Korea's $11 billion Soviet- era debt, a prelude to both countries declaring this year a year of friendship. Much of North Korea's weaponry is from the Soviet Union, dating back to the Korean War. Some observers may worry that Pyongyang is looking for updated arsenal, even nuclear know-how. But South Korea is not concerned at least not publically.</s>YUN BYUNG-SE, SOUTH KOREAN FOREIGN MINISTER: That does not mean that Russia is compromising on their position on North Korean issues.</s>HANCOCKS: After its actions in Crimea and Ukraine, Moscow is not popular in the West. Pyongyang never has been. The two leaders finding common ground in mutual isolation and anti-American fervor. (on camera): After being in power more than three years, Kim Jong-Un hasn't met a single world leader. Experts say it would make sense for him to make Putin his first, cementing a blossoming friendship while, at the same time, moving at least publically further away from his main sponsor, China. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.</s>BLITZER: We'll see what happens, if he does actually make that visit to Moscow. That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in the situation room. For our international viewers, "CNN News Center" coming up next. And for our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.</s>BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. Top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me here on CNN.