North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is ready to pay an official visit to Russia by the end of this year, depending on the schedule of President Vladimir Putin, according to Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the Russian Federation Council – the parliament’s upper house. Kim Jong-un “is ready to respond to a proposal from the Russian president as soon as possible, without any delays, and considering the schedule of [President] Vladimir Putin he is ready to pay a visit to Russia,” TASS quoted Matviyenko as saying. “I hope that the visit will take place soon, namely by the end of the year,” she said in Pyongyang. Matviyenko earlier handed over a letter from Putin to the North Korean leader. Matviyenko added that the North Korean leader told her that he intended to discuss with President Putin the strategy and perspectives of bilateral cooperation between two countries as well “as a wide scope of key international issues.”