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.