Putin Schedules Trip to N. Korea

The Kremlin announced that President Vladimir V. Putin will visit North Korea, a first by a Russian leader. The trip comes at a time when Moscow and Washington disagree about the Communist country’s possible threat to world peace. The U.S. is considering building an antimissile defense system against “rogue states” such as North Korea, a proposal strongly opposed by Russia, which sees the plan as a threat to its own nuclear forces. A Putin aide said the visit would take place before the meeting of the Group of 8 industrialized nations next month in Japan.