North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has backed out of next month's visit to Moscow for World War II anniversary celebrations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday. 
 
 "We were informed of the decision via diplomatic channels," Peskov said. "The decision is connected with North Korean domestic affairs." 
 
 The visit was highly anticipated because it would have marked Kim's first official foreign trip since inheriting the leadership of North Korea in late 2011. 
 
 He was to have met with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of the May visit to coincide with Victory Day, marking the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II 
 
 Kim also could have had the chance to rub elbows with the heads of about 30 other governments, including the leaders of China, Cuba, India, Germany, Vietnam and Venezuela. This number represents about half the world leaders that Russia has said it invited to the celebrations. 
 
 Kim's trip had been anticipated since late December, when Russian state media reported that Moscow had extended an invitation. 
 
 There was no further explanation, from Moscow or Pyongyang, as to why he wouldn't head west. 
 
 Still, North Korea has a number of issues it's been wrestling with for years. They include widespread poverty, its longstanding spat with neighboring South Korea and the United States, as well as its international isolation largely due to its controversial nuclear program. 
 
 And news about Kim's non-visit comes a day after South Korean intelligence agents told lawmakers that Kim is ruling with an iron fist , having ordered the execution of about 15 senior officials so far this year. 
 
 CNN cannot independently confirm the executions detailed by Shin Kyung-min, a lawmaker with the New Politics Alliance for Democracy who attended the closed briefing. And the nature of the intelligence supporting the allegations was not immediately clear. 
 
 That said, North Korea is one of the most closed societies in the world. 
 
 And there's little doubt that Kim is very much in charge. According to Shin, intelligence officials say the North Korean leader is ruling in an impromptu manner and does not countenance excuses or any views that vary with his own. ||||| MOSCOW (AP) — The leader of North Korea will not be coming to Moscow next month for the Victory Day celebration, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman announced Thursday. 
 
 The highly anticipated trip would have been Kim Jong Un's first foreign trip since taking power more than three years ago. 
 
 The Russian foreign minister had said in March that Kim was among 26 world leaders who had accepted invitations to take part in the May 9 celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany. 
 
 North Korea, however, had never confirmed that Kim planned to come. 
 
 Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told The Associated Press "internal matters" were preventing Kim from leaving North Korea. He did not elaborate. 
 
 On Wednesday, South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers that Kim had ordered the execution of 15 senior officials this year who were accused of challenging his authority. 
 
 Since taking over North Korea's leadership after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in 2011, Kim has removed members of the old guard through a series of purges — including the 2013 execution of his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, for alleged treason. Jang was married to Kim Jong Il's sister and was once considered the second most powerful man in North Korea.
– He's not coming. A Kremlin spokesman said today that North Korea's Kim Jong Un, set to make his first official trip abroad since taking power, won't be showing up in Moscow next month to help commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in WWII, the AP reports. Although Russia says Kim was one of 26 world leaders who had sent an affirmative RSVP for the Victory Day event, North Korea insists Kim never responded, per the news agency. "We were informed of the decision via diplomatic channels," the Kremlin spokesman said, per CNN. "The decision is connected with North Korean domestic affairs." (Kim may simply be distracted dealing with his own country's executions.)