North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, with the two sides agreeing to further expand and accelerate bilateral cooperation, North Korean state news agency KCNA reported on Tuesday.
During what KCNA described as the third strategic dialogue, held on Monday, the two countries also pledged broad mutual security support in a joint statement.
Russia expressed its “full support” for North Korea’s efforts to defend its sovereignty against “hostile” threats.
North Korea, in turn, expressed its “invariable support for all the internal and external policies” of Russia “to eliminate the root cause of the Ukrainian dispute,” according to KCNA.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, North Korea has entered into an unprecedented military partnership with Moscow.
In addition to supplying large quantities of ammunition and artillery shells, Pyongyang has deployed up to 15,000 troops to support Russia’s war effort, according to estimates by South Korea’s intelligence agency.
During her visit, Choe also laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow’s Alexander Garden near the Kremlin wall.
The North Korean delegation observed a minute’s silence in honour of those who died in what KCNA described as the “sacred war for wiping out fascism” – the term the agency used to refer to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
South Korea’s intelligence agency estimates that at least 2,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed while fighting in the war in Ukraine.