AP, SEOUL
North Korea and Russia reached a new agreement to expand economic cooperation following high-level talks in Pyongyang this week, the North’s state media said on Thursday, as they continue to align in the face of their confrontations with Washington.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) did not elaborate on the details of the agreement signed on Wednesday between its senior trade officials and a Russian delegation led by Alexandr Kozlov, the country’s minister of natural resources and ecology.
The Russian news agency Tass on Tuesday said officials following an earlier round of talks agreed to increase the number of charter flights between the countries to promote tourism.
Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Alexander Kozlov, center, left, shakes hands with North Korean External Economic Relations Minister Yun Jong-ho, center, right, during a signing ceremony at the 11th Meeting of the North Korea-Russia Intergovernmental Trade, Economic and Science and Technology Cooperation Committee in Pyongyang on Wednesday.
Photo: AFP
Kozlov, who arrived in North Korea on Sunday, met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his top economic official, North Korean Premier Kim Tok-hun, before returning home on Wednesday, KCNA said.
In another display of the countries’ growing ties, during Kozlov’s visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s gifted Pyongyang’s Central Zoo with more than 70 animals, including lions, bears and several species of birds, Tass said.
Kim Jong-un in recent months has prioritized relations with Moscow as he attempts to break out of international isolation and strengthen his footing, supporting Putin’s war on Ukraine while portraying the North as a player in a united front against Washington.
Kim has yet to directly acknowledge that he has been providing military equipment and troops to Russia to support its fighting against Ukraine.
The spy agency believes the North Korean soldiers were assigned to Russia’s marine and airborne forces units and some of them have already begun fighting alongside the Russians on the frontlines, said Lee Seong-kweun, a lawmaker who attended the meeting.
North Korea would be possibly getting anywhere between US$320 million to US $1.3 billion annually from Russia for sending its troops to Ukraine,, a recent study by Lim Soo-ho, a South Korean analyst at an NIS-run think tank.
However, North Korea’s troop dispatch is less about money than acquiring key Russian technologies to further advance its nuclear weapons and missile program, Lim said.
