Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit North Korea this weekend, Russian diplomats and the North Korean state news agency KCNA announced today.
Specifically, Lavrov “will visit the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from July 11 to 13 to conduct negotiations,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
The North Korean KCNA news agency reported earlier today about Lavrov’s visit, noting that it came “at the invitation” of the North Korean Foreign Ministry.
This visit by the head of Russian diplomacy comes a month and a half after that of Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu to Pyongyang, marking the first anniversary of a defense agreement signed by the two countries.
Military cooperation
Moscow and Pyongyang have strengthened their military cooperation in recent years, with North Korea providing weapons and troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The two countries signed a defense agreement during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to North Korea last year. A contingent of North Korean soldiers participated, alongside the Russian army, in battles against Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, which has been under partial occupation by Kyiv’s forces since summer 2024. Russia announced its withdrawal last April.
In April, Pyongyang confirmed for the first time that it had deployed troops on the Ukrainian front alongside the Russian army.
For Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University in South Korea, the frequency of close contacts between senior Russian officials and Kim Jong Un is “very unusual.” The talks could include preparation for an “expected visit” by the North Korean leader to Russia, he told AFP.
