North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a congratulatory message to Russian President Vladimir Putin on his birthday Tuesday, praising what he called Russia’s “strong political system and robust national power.”

According to the Korean Central News Agency, Kim addressed Putin as “my most intimate comrade” and said the Russian leader’s “wise leadership and patriotic devotion” have elevated Russia as a global power leading a new multipolar world.

Kim said the alliance between Pyongyang and Moscow will continue to expand based on their “warm friendship and close camaraderie,” contributing significantly to a “just and multipolar international order.”

Though Kim sent a similar message to Putin last year, the reference to a multipolar world is new.

Recalling their meeting in Beijing last month, Kim reaffirmed his support for what he labeled Russia’s “just struggle” to defend its sovereignty and pledged to uphold the bilateral treaty between Russia and North Korea.

He concluded by saying Pyongyang and Moscow will always stand together, describing the friendship as “eternal and indestructible.”