Yahoo TV

STORY: :: Russia's Putin hugs North Korea's Kim

before leaving Pyongyang for Vietnam

Putin's pledge overhauls Russia's entire post-Soviet policy on North Korea just as the United States and its Asian allies try to gauge how far Russia could deepen support for the only country to have tested a nuclear weapon this century.

On his first visit to Pyongyang since July 2000, Putin explicitly linked Russia's deepening of ties with North Korea to the West's growing support for Ukraine and said Moscow could develop military and technical cooperation with Pyongyang.

The pomp-filled visit to Pyongyang was Putin's first in nearly a quarter of a century. He spent 21 hours in the North Korean capital before heading to Hanoi, Vietnam.