Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad is planning to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang. “I am going to visit the DPRK and meet HE Kim Jong Un,” Assad said on May 30, North Korea’s KCNA news agency reported, using the initials of the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He reportedly made the remarks as he received the credentials of North Korean Ambassador Mun Jong Nam. Should the visit materialize, Assad would become the first head of state to meet Kim in the North Korean capital. There was no immediate comment from Assad’s office. The announcement came as anticipation mounts for a historic nuclear summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12, following a whirlwind round of diplomacy. Since taking power in 2011, Kim has not publicly met with another head of state in North Korea. “The world welcomes the remarkable events in the Korean peninsula brought about recently by the outstanding political caliber and wise leadership of HE Kim Jong Un,” Assad said, according to KCNA. “I am sure that he will achieve the final victory and realize the reunification of Korea without fail.” According to South Korea’s foreign ministry, North Korea established diplomatic relations with Syria in 1966, opening its embassy in Damascus. Syria opened its mission in Pyongyang in 1969. Close military cooperation between the two countries began when North Korea sent some 530 troops including pilots, tank drivers and missile personnel to Syria during the Arab-Israeli war in October 1973. Pyongyang and Damascus maintain good relations, and United Nations monitors have accused North Korea of cooperating with Syria on chemical weapons, a charge the North denies. Both countries have faced international isolation, North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, and Syria over the atrocities it has committed during its seven-year war. “The Syrian regime will as ever fully support all policies and measures of the DPRK leadership and invariably strengthen and develop the friendly ties with the DPRK,” Assad said, as quoted by KCNA. Since coming to power in 2011, Kim has not met another head of state in North Korea. He only made his first overseas trip as leader this year, traveling to China to meet President Xi Jinping, an ally of the reclusive regime.