Putin meets prime North Korean diplomat, says ties growing as deliberate | Vladimir Putin Information

North Korea’s Overseas Minister Choe Son Hui praised the ‘religious closeness’ between the 2 states.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has met North Korea’s Overseas Minister Choe Son Hui within the newest high-level engagement between the 2 international locations, which have strengthened ties throughout the Ukraine battle.

Footage launched by Russian state information companies confirmed Putin greeting Choe within the Kremlin on Monday. Russia’s prime diplomat Sergey Lavrov additionally appeared on the assembly.

Putin stated the international locations’ “relations and growth prospects” are progressing “based on plan”, and prolonged regards to North Korean chief Kim Jong Un, based on Russia’s Sputnik information company. Choe, in flip, handed on “heat needs” from Kim, having earlier praised the “religious closeness” of the 2 nations’ relationship in talks with Lavrov.

Russia and North Korea, each underneath intensive Western sanctions, have considerably bolstered ties in recent times, together with signing a 2024 defence pact committing every nation to supply army help to the opposite within the occasion of “aggression”.

Since then, North Korea has despatched round 10,000 troops to affix Russia’s battle towards Ukraine, no less than 600 of whom have died in fight, based on estimates from Seoul and Kyiv.

Pyongyang first acknowledged its troopers’ involvement within the battle in April, saying they helped Russia retake its strategic Kursk area after a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

A number of days in the past, Kim held a ceremony marking the opening of a museum in Pyongyang to honour the North Korean troops killed within the battle. He stated their deployment “marked the start of a brand new historical past of militant solidarity” with Russia, with which there’s an “invincible” alliance.

Putin final met Kim in particular person on September 3 in Beijing, the place the leaders held official talks after attending a army parade hosted by China’s President  Xi Jinping. On the time, Putin praised North Korean troopers for combating “courageously and heroically” within the Ukraine battle.

“I want to observe that we are going to always remember the sacrifices that your armed forces and the households of your servicemen have suffered,” Putin stated.

The deepening Russia-North Korea relationship has drawn concern from the USA, which says there may be proof that Russia is growing know-how help for North Korea, together with in house and satellite tv for pc programmes. After Putin and Kim’s September assembly, US President Donald Trump claimed they had been conspiring towards the US – an announcement dismissed by the Kremlin.