SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has held a meeting with top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu, state media KCNA said on Saturday.
According to the official media, they discussed means to further enhance strategic dialogue between the two sides. The two leaders had a “wide exchange of views over global and regional situations”, and reached a satisfactory consensus on matters including more “cooperation to defend mutual safety interests,” according to the KCNA.
Kim stated that North Korea will also continue to extend cooperation with Moscow in accordance with the strategic partnership between the two nations, KCNA reported.
Ukraine and the US among other states, as well as independent experts, say that Kim Jong Un is helping Moscow in its invasion of Kyiv by supplying missiles and rockets in return for economic and other military help from Russia.
Pyongyang and Moscow have denied the allegations, but vowed to boost military cooperation and inked a comprehensive strategic partnership at a meeting in June.
Earlier, Shoigu signaled the beginning of closer relations between Russia and North Korea with his trip to Pyongyang in July last year.
At the time, he also stood with Kim Jong Un while viewing North Korea’s military parade presenting nuclear-capable missiles as well as attack drones, as the first top Russian defence official to visit North Korea since the 1991.
