North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hosted a Russian military delegation led by Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko to discuss the “importance and necessity” of bilateral defense cooperation, state media said Friday.
Thursday’s meeting in Pyongyang came roughly a month after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the North Korean capital, during which the two countries signed a mutual defense agreement that raised alarm in Seoul and Washington.
North Korea and Russia have been allies since the North’s founding after World War II and have drawn even closer since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Kim emphasized the need for the countries’ armies to “get united more firmly to dynamically lead the DPRK-Russia relations in the new era and play an important part in defending regional and global peace,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported, using the abbreviation of the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The United States and its allies have accused North Korea of providing ammunition and missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine, and the treaty has fueled concerns about more deliveries.
After leaving Pyongyang, Putin further fanned the flames by saying he “does not rule out” sending weapons to North Korea.
The North has been under a UN sanctions regime since 2006 over its weapons programs.
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