North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Pyongyang on Thursday evening, days after the U.S. accused the DPRK and Russia of engaging in secret arms transfers. The Russian foreign ministry announced the meeting, releasing photographs of Lavrov at a table with Kim but without mentioning any details of their talks.
DPRK state media has yet to provide any detailed coverage of the top Russian official’s visit. Earlier in the day, Lavrov met his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui and held a press conference, according to the Russian foreign ministry.
Lavrov reportedly said that he and Choe discussed “the prospects of intensifying political dialogue” and “resumption of full-scale contacts.” The two ministers also signed a “Plan for Interministerial Exchanges for 2024-2025,” Lavrov reportedly announced.
The ministers “talked a lot about prospects of trade and economic cooperation,” Lavrov said, adding that the two sides plan to ramp up “specific aspects of practical cooperation” in accordance with “decisions of the countries’ leaders.” He noted that both sides expressed interest in “significantly increasing trade and economic exchanges,” as well as “political coordination,” as outlined in the plan for 2024-2025.
The minister also announced that representatives of the two countries will convene in Pyongyang in November as part of an intergovernmental commission to discuss topics such as “geological exploration and plans to supply energy and other goods” that the DPRK needs.
Lavrov stated he and Choe discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula, noting Moscow and Pyongyang are concerned about “the increasing military activity in the region by the U.S., Japan and South Korea, as well as Washington’s policy of transferring elements of its strategic infrastructure, including nuclear aspects, to the region.”
In response, he said, Russia, along with the DPRK and China, has put forward a policy “ensuring de-escalation and the impermissibility of stoking tensions” in the region.
He also voiced support for starting a “regular negotiation process on security issues on the Korean Peninsula without preconditions” to maintain peace and stability in Northeast Asia.
Moscow’s chief diplomat said Pyongyang once again reaffirmed “its principled support for the actions of the Russian Federation to repel the aggression unleashed against us by the Western ‘group’ led by the U.S., using Ukraine as a tool.”
Lavrov flew from Beijing aboard an Ilyushin Il-96-300 (tail number RA-96023), landing in Pyongyang just after 6 p.m. KST on Wednesday, flight tracking data showed. He is expected to wrap up his visit tonight.
The Russian foreign ministry published photos of Lavrov laying flowers and wreaths at the Soviet Memorial Cemetery and the Liberation Tower in Pyongyang. He was accompanied by Russia’s Ambassador to the DPRK Alexander Matsegora and deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko, among other officials. Lavrov’s arrival in Pyongyang marks the second high-level visit by Russian officials to North Korea this year and comes roughly a month after Kim visited Russia for talks with Vladimir Putin.
In July, Russian military chief Sergei Shoigu also visited Pyongyang to attend mass celebrations and observe the country’s most advanced weapons.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin accepted an invitation from Kim Jong Un to visit Pyongyang during their summit in the Russian Far East last month. But it does not appear that Putin will visit immediately after Lavrov, returning to Russia after attending a Belt and Road conference in China on Wednesday.
