Russian FM Lavrov to visit North Korea this weekend

SEOUL (AFP): Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit North Korea this weekend, state media reported, the latest in a series of high-profile visits by top Moscow officials as the two countries deepen military ties.

Lavrov “will visit the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from July 11 to 13 at the invitation of the DPRK Foreign Ministry,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported Wednesday.

Russia’s security chief Sergei Shoigu has visited Pyongyang multiple times this year, including last month, when the two countries marked the one year anniversary of the signing of a sweeping military pact.

The two heavily-sanctioned nations signed the military deal last year, including a mutual defence clause, during a rare visit by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the nuclear-armed North.

Pyongyang has become one of Moscow’s main allies during its more than three-year-long Ukraine offensive, sending thousands of troops and container loads of weapons to help the Kremlin oust Ukrainian forces from Kursk region.

Around 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting for Russia, Seoul has said, with Shoigu announcing in Pyongyang last month that the nuclear-armed North would send builders and deminers to Kursk.

North Korea only confirmed it had deployed troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine in April, and admitted that its soldiers had been killed in combat.

Leader Kim Jong Un has subsequently been shown in state media images honouring the flag-draped coffins of North Korean soldiers killed helping Russia fight Ukraine.