Top Russian Diplomat Lavrov Meets with Kim Jong Un in North Korea
(AFP) – Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, met North Korean leader Kim Jong one on Saturday during his visit to the secret country and the ally of Moscow.
Lavrov “was received” by Kim Jong Un, said the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Telegram, publishing a video of two men shaking hands and greeting with a hug.
Lavrov told Kim that Russian President Vladimir Putin “hopes continuous direct contact in the very close future,” according to the Russian state agency Tass.
The Russian and North Korean state media announced the visit earlier, saying that Lavrov would remain until Sunday.
This is the last of a series of high -level trips by senior Moscow officials, the two countries deepen the military and political ties on the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
Pyongyang sent thousands of soldiers to the Russian Kursk region to oust kyiv forces and provided the Russian army with artillery and missiles to the Russian army.
Earlier on Saturday, Lavrov met his counterpart Choe his Hui and said that North Korean officials had “reaffirmed their full support for all the objectives” of the offensive in Ukraine, Tass reported.
He also thanked the “heroic” North Korean soldiers.
The two parties “stressed their determination to jointly counter the hegemonic aspirations of extra-regional actors, which lead to an increase in tensions in Northeast Asia and throughout the Asia-Pacific region,” said the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Lavrov met his counterpart in Wonsan, a city on the east coast of the country where a massive seaside resort was opened earlier this month.
Before the visit, Russia announced that it would start flights twice a week between Moscow and Pyongyang.
Lavrov praised Wonsan as “a good tourist attraction”, adding: “We hope that it will be popular not only with local citizens, but also Russians”.
The two strongly sanctioned nations signed a military agreement last year, including a mutual defense clause, during a rare visit to Vladimir Putin in North Korea.
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