North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stressed his country’s close ties with Russia in a congratulatory speech at a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. 

The North’s Korean Central News Agency said Friday that Kim delivered the speech the previous day at the plaza of the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang. 

In the speech, Kim reportedly said friendly relations between North Korea and Russia have developed into an alliance that is unprecedented in history, having grown stronger through a joint struggle to prevent the revival of neo-Nazism and to safeguard sovereignty, security and international justice.

Kim also said Pyongyang and Moscow are once again making history in the ongoing struggle to protect national sovereignty, as well as world peace and stability.

The North Korean leader did not directly criticize the United States in the speech, nor did he make any comment on South Korea.