Moscow [Russia], July 13: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov praised his country's military alliance with North Korea on Saturday, during a visit aimed at reaffirming the two countries' strategic partnership.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is "counting on the continuation of direct contacts with you in the very near future," Lavrov told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the port city of Wonsan, Russian news agencies reported.
Putin conveyed his warm greetings to the North Korean leader, and assured him of Moscow's commitment to all agreements made with his country, the top diplomat emphasized.
Moscow and Pyongyang signed a strategic partnership in 2024 during Putin's visit to North Korea. The agreement includes military assistance should one of the two countries be attacked.
North Korea has supported the Russian war against Ukraine by supplying weapons and soldiers to Moscow.
"Our Korean friends have reaffirmed their unequivocal support for all the objectives of the special military operation and the actions of the Russian leadership and the Russian army," Lavrov said, using the Kremlin's term for the invasion of Ukraine over three years ago.
Kim travelled to the seaside resort of Wonsan to greet his guest, along with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui. "I thought it would be better to meet here rather than in Pyongyang, because they can relax a little here," the North Korean leader said, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.
Lavrov's visit took place against the backdrop of media reports about a possible new deployment of up to 30,000 additional North Korean soldiers to Russia.
North Korean soldiers were previously dispatched to the western Russian region of Kursk, in order to recapture areas taken by Ukrainian troops during last summer's surprise counteroffensive.
According to estimates by the Ukrainian intelligence service, a total of around 14,000 soldiers from North Korea fought in the region.
Although it took a long time for the deployment of North Korean soldiers to be publicly recognized, North Korea's state television channel KCTV showed footage of Kim laying the North Korean flag over a coffin in late June - presumably mourning soldiers who died fighting in the Ukraine war.Lavrov thanked North Korea for its help and declared that a memorial would be erected in Kursk for the fallen North Korean soldiers.
In return for military aid, Russia is said to be supplying food to isolated North Korea, as well as supporting the country with the technical development of its missile programmes.
There has been no official confirmation of this.
Source: Qatar Tribune
