North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has told Russia’s top diplomat that Pyongyang is ready to “unconditionally support” all actions taken by Moscow in its war on Ukraine, state media reports, as the two countries held high-level strategic talks.
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov is on a three-day visit to North Korea, which has provided troops and arms for Russia’s war on Ukraine and pledged more military support as Moscow tries to make advances in the conflict.
Kim met Lavrov in the eastern coastal city of Wonsan, where Lavrov and his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son Hui, held their second strategic dialogue, pledging further cooperation under a partnership treaty signed last year that includes a mutual defence pact.
Kim told Lavrov the steps taken by the allies in response to radically evolving global geopolitics would contribute greatly to securing peace and security around the world, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported.
“Kim Jong Un reaffirmed the DPRK is ready to unconditionally support and encourage all the measures taken by the Russian leadership as regards the tackling of the root cause of the Ukrainian crisis,” KCNA said, using the acronym for the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a video on Telegram of the two men shaking hands and greeting each other with a hug.
The North Korean leader also expressed a “firm belief that the Russian army and people would surely win victory in accomplishing the sacred cause of defending the dignity and basic interests of the country”.
The two men otherwise discussed “important matters for faithfully implementing the agreements made at the historic DPRK-Russia summit talks in June 2024”, KCNA said.
Relations between Russia and North Korea have deepened dramatically during the last two years of the war in Ukraine, which started with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022, with Pyongyang deploying more than 10,000 troops and arms to back Moscow.
The two heavily sanctioned nations signed a military deal last year, including a mutual defence clause, during a rare visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to North Korea.
Lavrov told Kim that Putin “hopes for continued direct contacts in the very near future”, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.
Ahead of the visit, Russia announced that it would begin twice-a-week flights between Moscow and Pyongyang.
Lavrov lauded Wonsan as “a good tourist attraction”, adding: “We hope it will be popular not only with local citizens, but also with Russians.”
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