Russia’s Lavrov in North Korea for Latest High-Level Visit

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has started his three-day visit to North Korea as ties between the two heavily sanctioned nations continue to grow.

The Russian minister and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui started talks in the resort city of Wonsan on Saturday, according to the Russian Interfax wire.

In his opening remarks, Lavrov said Russian authorities would facilitate an increase in tourist flows from Russia to the North Korean resort, by creating the conditions necessary such as resolving air travel arrangements. North Korea opened the Wonsan‑Kalma Coastal Tourist Area on June 24, with Kim Jong Un presiding over the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Separately, the Russian minister addressed the participation of North Korean troops in the liberation of Russia’s Kursk region from Ukraine forces and called it direct evidence that relations between the two countries can be described as an “invincible brotherhood.”

The visit comes less than a month after Pyongyang agreed to send an additional 6,000 military workers to Russia’s Kursk region at a June meeting between Kim Jong Un and President Vladimir Putin’s top security aide Sergei Shoigu. That was Shoigu’s third time in Pyongyang in as many months.

The two countries have been deepening ties after signing a military treaty last year to expand their strategic partnership under mounting international sanctions. 

Western governments have accused the Kremlin of bartering military technology for arms and manpower amid Putin’s war on Ukraine. The deployment of North Korean troops to Russia has also helped Pyongyang’s military gain modern, real-world combat experience.

North Korea is now supplying as much as 40% of Russia’s ammunition for the war and “those are good weapons,” the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “North Korea has huge stockpiles and production goes on around the clock,” he said.

Lavrov’s July 11-13 visit is part of “the second round of strategic dialogue between the top diplomats,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday, according to the state-run Tass news service. 

Choe Son Hui met with Putin and Lavrov in November during a trip to Moscow. Before Pyongyang, Lavrov was in Kuala Lumpur, where he met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.