Russia delegation visits North Korea for unity talks

Seoul — A North Korean minister met the governor of the Russian region bordering the two countries to discuss boosting regional economic co-operation, state media KCNA reported on Wednesday, the latest exchange between the neighbouring states.

The talks between North Korea’s external economic relations minister Yun Jong-ho and Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of the Russian far eastern region of Primorsky Krai, focused on “elevating economic co-operation to a higher level”, it said.

The KCNA report also said the trade and economic working groups of the two sides signed an agreement, but it did not provide details.

Primorsky is also known informally as Primorye.

The meeting comes as South Korea’s intelligence agency said on Tuesday there had been signs that North Korea was moving to deploy workers to Russia, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Any country employing North Korean workers who earn wages would be violating UN Security Council sanctions aimed at curbing Pyongyang’s banned weapons programmes on the grounds earnings can be channelled to finance the projects.

“This is the first visit after a long break caused by the pandemic,” Kozhemyako said on his Telegram channel. “Our delegation’s programme includes many meetings to develop humanitarian ties between Primorye and the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea]. First of all, in the field of culture, tourism and sports.”

In November, Kozhemyako told the Russian Tass state news agency that Primorye was ready to consider the possibility of providing part of its agricultural land for farming by North Korean farmers.

Kozhemyako’s trip marks the latest in a flurry of bilateral visits since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited Russia in September and met President Vladimir Putin to discuss deepening military co-operation.

That pledge came in the backdrop of what US officials said was evidence of arms trade between the North and Russia, which is expending vast amounts of munitions in its war with Ukraine.

Amid a slow post-pandemic reopening by the reclusive state, North Korea has been allowing in Chinese and Russian government delegations since earlier this year, restarting flights between Pyongyang and Beijing.

Air Koryo flights between Pyongyang and the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang resumed on Wednesday for the first time in nearly four years, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

Kozhemyako said a North Korean delegation would visit Primorsky in mid-December, adding that he spoke to officials from North Korea’s Rason city bordering Russia.

As Russia’s isolation over its war in Ukraine has grown, it is forging closer ties with North Korea.

North Korea premier Kim Tok-hun met Russia’s natural resources minister Alexander Kozlov last month and held talks in a “friendly atmosphere”, Pyongyang’s state media reported at that time.

A delegation led by the North Korean culture minister also travelled to Saint Petersburg during the same month to attend the St Petersburg International Cultural Forum.

In October, a North Korean ministry of physical culture and sports delegation participated in the International Sports Forum in the Russian city of Perm.

Reuters