Reporting
Russia’s defense minister stresses military cooperation on a visit to North Korea.
A meeting between the defense ministers of Russia and North Korea on Wednesday ended with the Russian official, Sergei K. Shoigu, vowing to increase the two nations’ military collaboration.
Mr. Shoigu said in a statement that the countries were linked “by a common border and a rich history of cooperation,” and said he was “confident that today’s talks will contribute to strengthening cooperation between our defense ministries.” He issued the statement from Pyongyang, which he called “the capital of a friendly state.”
Mr. Shoigu and other Russian officials arrived in North Korea on Tuesday. Along with a Chinese delegation led by Li Hongzhong, a member of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party. The visits are the first by high-level foreign delegations since North Korea shut its borders in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The delegations’ arrivals are timed to North Korea’s Victory Day celebrations on Thursday. The event marks the 70th anniversary of what North Korea considers its triumph over the South in the Korean War, which technically never ended. In his statement, Mr. Shoigu said that military exchanges between Russia and North Korea had helped keep the peace on the peninsula.
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has expressed support for Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, and Washington has accused the North of shipping weapons and ammunition to Russia, which Russia and North Korea have denied. North Korea uses Russian military equipment.
Mr. Shoigu’s visit to Pyongyang is part of a Russian effort to strengthen its ties with Asian allies, to counter its isolation by the West since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In October, Mr. Putin will travel to a conference in China, where he will meet with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to discuss bilateral trade and economic cooperation.