Moscow: Russia’s top diplomat on Friday met his North Korean counterpart for talks amid reports that Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to Russia to support its military in the war in Ukraine. Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui’s visit to Moscow and her meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov came on the heels of the Pentagon’s statement that North Korea has deployed about 10,000 troops to Russia to fight against Ukraine.
The Biden administration said Thursday that some 8,000 North Korean soldiers are now in Russia’s Kursk region near Ukraine’s border and are preparing to help the Kremlin fight against Ukrainian troops in the coming days.
Western leaders have described the North Korean troop deployment as a significant escalation that could also jolt relations in the Indo-Pacific region.
Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have specified the agenda for Choe’s talks in Moscow, but in a closed-door hearing at South Korea’s parliament, the South’s spy agency said Choe may be involved in high-level discussions on sending additional troops to Russia and negotiating what the North would get in return.
South Korean and Western officials have voiced concern that Russia may offer technology that could advance the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile program.
Meeting Choe in Moscow on Friday, Lavrov hailed ties between Moscow and Pyongyang, saying that they “have reached an unprecedented high level over
the past few years,” and proposed discussing the implementation of the strategic partnership agreement the two nations signed earlier
this year.