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The KCNA report said Assad made the comments about a possible trip to North Korea last on Tuesday while receiving the credentials of the North Korean ambassador. The report did not say why it took almost a week to note Assad's purported comments.

"I am going to visit the DPRK and meet HE Kim Jong-un," Assad was quoted saying in the report, using the initials for North Korea's official name and referring to Kim using letters that stand for "his excellency."

Assad's only trips outside Syria since 2011 have been several trips to key ally Russia, most recently in May.

Assad reportedly made the remarks as he received the credentials of North Korean Ambassador to Syria Mun Jong-nam.

Pyongyang and Damascus maintain good relations, and United Nations monitors have accused North Korea of cooperating with Syria on chemical weapons, a charge the North denies.

Both countries have faced international isolation, North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, and Syria over its tactics during a bloody civil war.

Since taking power in 2011, Kim has not publicly met with another head of state in North Korea.

"The world welcomes the remarkable events in the Korean peninsula brought about recently by the outstanding political calibre and wise leadership of HE Kim Jong-un," Assad said, according to KCNA. "I am sure that he will achieve the final victory and realise the reunification of Korea without fail."

According to the South Korean Foreign Ministry, North Korea established diplomatic relations with Syria in 1966, opening its embassy in Damascus. Syria opened its mission in Pyongyang in 1969.

Close military cooperation between the two countries began when North Korea sent some 530 troops including pilots, tank drivers and missile personnel to Syria during the Arab-Israeli war in October 1973.

"The Syrian government will as ever fully support all policies and measures of the DPRK leadership and invariably strengthen and develop the friendly ties with the DPRK," Assad said, as quoted by KCNA.

The exact scope of the discussions planned for the Kim-Trump Singapore summit remains unclear. The Trump administration hopes the meeting will bring clear pledges from Kim to being rolling back the country's nuclear program. The North, meanwhile, has noted possible stumbling blocks for the talks, including denunciations of upcoming military exercises involving the United States and South Korea.

Preparations for the on-off-on-again meeting appear to be well underway.

But Kim has also conducted his own parallel outreach - holding two meetings with South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, and sending envoys to meet with teams from the South on other initiatives such as possible gatherings for families separated by the Korean War more than 60 years ago.

In addition, Kim has made two trips to China in recent months and met on Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Syria and North Korea have maintained close relations for decades. A Syrian nuclear reactor destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in 2007 was believed to be built partly on North Korean designs.

Washington Post, Reuters, New York Times