SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A prime Russian safety official met with North Korean chief Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang on Friday and thanked him for the nation’s assist of Moscow’s battle efforts in Ukraine, in response to Russian state media. The assembly got here after studies that North Korea not too long ago despatched extra troops to Russia to assist its battle efforts.
The company stated Shoigu throughout his assembly with Kim expressed gratitude for North Korea’s “solidarity with Russia’s position on all critical geopolitical issues, particularly on the Ukrainian issue.’”
The Russian retailers didn’t instantly say whether or not any new agreements had been reached.
Shoigu’s go to comes after Ukraine and Russia agreed in precept Wednesday to a restricted ceasefire after President Donald Trump spoke with the nations’ leaders, although it remained to be seen when it’d take impact and what potential targets can be off limits to assault.
North Korea has been supplying an enormous quantity of standard weapons to Russia, and final fall it despatched about 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia as effectively, in response to U.S., South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officers. In late February, South Korea’s spy company stated North Korea appeared to have despatched extra troops to Russia. South Korean media put the variety of new North Korean troopers at about 1,000 to three,000.
South Korea, the U.S. and others suspect North Korea is receiving financial and army help from Russia in return for offering weapons and troops. Many consultants say North Korea will probably ramp up its assist of Russia to win as many advantages as potential from Russia earlier than the battle ends.
Shoigu’s journey may very well be associated to Kim’s potential journey to Russia, some observers say. In June 2024, Putin visited Pyongyang and signed a serious mutual protection treaty with Kim. On the time, Putin invited Kim to go to Moscow.
In 2023, when Shoigu, then a protection minister, traveled to North Korea, Kim gave him a private tour of a North Korean arms exhibition in what exterior critics likened to a gross sales pitch. In September 2024, Shoigu, then with the brand new safety council publish, went to North Korea once more for a gathering with Kim, and the 2 mentioned increasing cooperation, in response to North Korea’s state media.
Earlier Friday, KCNA stated Kim oversaw the test-launches of recent anti-aircraft missiles the day gone by. It cited Kim as calling the missiles “another major defense weapons system” for North Korea.
The missile launches, North Korea’s sixth weapons testing exercise this 12 months, occurred on the identical day that the U.S. and South Korean militaries concluded their annual coaching that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal. The 11-day Freedom Protect command publish train was the allies’ first main joint army workouts because the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January, and the 2 nations held various area coaching workouts alongside the Freedom Protect drills.
North Korea’s Protection Ministry alleged Friday the latest U.S.-South Korean drills concerned simulations to destroy underground tunnels within the North to take away its nuclear weapons. An unidentified ministry spokesperson stated the U.S. and South Korea would face “the gravest consequences they do not want,” in the event that they carry out comparable provocative actions once more.
North Korea usually churns out warlike rhetoric and threats of assaults when the U.S. and South Korean militaries conduct huge drills. South Korea’s Unification Ministry on Friday warned North Korea to not use its defensive drills with the U.S. as a pretext to launch provocations.
Trump has stated he’s keen to achieve out to Kim to revive their nuclear diplomacy, however North Korea hasn’t made any public responses to Trump’s overture. Many consultants say Kim, now preoccupied along with his assist of Russia’s battle efforts in opposition to Ukraine, received’t probably embrace Trump’s outreach anytime quickly, however might critically take into account it when the battle ends.
Kim and Trump met thrice in 2018-19 to debate North Korea’s potential nuclear disarmament, however their diplomacy ultimately fell aside because of disputes over U.S.-led financial sanctions on North Korea. —— AP author Kim Tong-hyung contributed to the report.
