SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A high Russian safety official met with North Korean chief Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang on Friday and thanked him for the nation’s help of Moscow’s warfare efforts in Ukraine, based on Russian state media.
The assembly got here after South Korea’s spy company stated in late February that North Korea appeared to have despatched additional troops to Russia after soldiers fighting in the Russian-Ukraine war suffered heavy casualties.
Russia’s state-run information company Tass reported that Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s Safety Council secretary, throughout a gathering with Kim, expressed gratitude for North Korea’s “solidarity with Russia’s place on all important geopolitical points, significantly on the Ukrainian difficulty.’”
Tass stated Shoigu additionally conveyed a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who prolonged his greetings and vowed to provide “utmost consideration” to implementing agreements reached of their current summits.
Interfax, one other Russian information company, quoted Shoigu as saying that numerous points had been mentioned with Kim, together with Russia’s warfare in Ukraine, Moscow’s dialogues with the Trump administration and the safety state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula.
Shoigu’s go to comes after Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after President Donald Trump spoke with the nations’ leaders, although it remained to be seen when it’d take impact and what doable targets could be off-limits to assault.
North Korea’s state information company, KCNA, earlier confirmed the arrival of a Russian delegation led by Shoigu however didn’t present particulars on the aim of their go to.
North Korea has been supplying an unlimited quantity of conventional weapons to Russia, and final fall it despatched about 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia as effectively, based on U.S., South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officers. In its Feb. 27 assertion, South Korea’s Nationwide Intelligence Service stated it was making an attempt to find out precisely what number of extra troops North Korea has deployed to Russia. South Korean media put the variety of newly deployed North Korean troopers at about 1,000 to three,000.
South Korea, the U.S. and others suspect North Korea is receiving financial and army help from Russia in return for offering weapons and troops. Many consultants say North Korea will possible ramp up its help of Russia to win as many advantages as doable from Russia earlier than the warfare ends.
Shoigu’s journey may very well be associated to Kim’s doable journey to Russia, some observers say. In June 2024, Putin visited Pyongyang and signed a significant mutual defense treaty with Kim. On the time, Putin invited Kim to go to Moscow.
In 2023, when Shoigu, then a protection minister, traveled to North Korea, Kim gave him a private tour of a North Korean arms exhibition in what exterior critics likened to a gross sales pitch. In September 2024, Shoigu, then with the brand new safety council submit, went to North Korea once more for a gathering with Kim, and the 2 mentioned increasing cooperation, based on North Korea’s state media.
Earlier Friday, KCNA stated Kim oversaw the test-launches of latest anti-aircraft missiles the day prior to this. It cited Kim as calling the missiles “one other main protection weapons system” for North Korea.
The missile launches, North Korea’s sixth weapons testing exercise this yr, occurred on the identical day that the U.S. and South Korean militaries concluded their annual coaching that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal. The 11-day Freedom Defend train was the allies’ first main joint army coaching since Trump’s inauguration in January.
North Korea typically responds to main U.S.-South Korean army drills with its personal weapons assessments and fiery rhetoric. Hours after this yr’s Freedom Defend coaching started on March 10, North Korea fired several ballistic missiles into the ocean.
—— AP author Kim Tong-hyung contributed to the report.
