Seoul [South Korea], November 6 (ANI): An army delegation from Russia, led by the deputy defense minister, is visiting North Korea, according to South Korea’s state media on Thursday.
Yonhap news agency reported the arrival of the Russian military officials in Pyongyang, along with a photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The photo showed General Viktor Goremykin, Russia’s deputy defense minister who also oversees the Main Military-Political Directorate of the country’s armed forces, with General Pak Yong Il, the deputy chief of the North Korean People’s Army’s General Political Bureau, at Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport on Wednesday.
Cooperation and exchanges between Russia and North Korea have strengthened in recent years. In 2024, the two countries signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty. North Korea has reportedly sent thousands of troops to support Russia in its conflict with Ukraine.
The Russian delegation’s visit to North Korea comes as Pyongyang vows to take action in response to sanctions imposed on Tuesday by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
The US Treasury Department announced earlier this week that it had imposed sanctions on eight North Korean individuals and two entities for their roles in laundering funds stolen through illicit cyber activities. The department said the individuals were “state-sponsored hackers” whose operations were conducted “to fund the regime’s nuclear weapons program.” Pyongyang denounced the sanctions as evidence of Washington’s hostile policy.
Yonhap cited a statement from KCNA in which Kim Un-chol, North Korea’s vice foreign minister in charge of US affairs, said that by imposing fresh sanctions, the US has shown its “invariable hostile” intentions toward North Korea “in an accustomed and traditional way.” Denouncing the US for revealing its “wicked nature,” the North’s official warned that Washington should not expect its tactics of pressure, appeasement, threat, and blackmail against North Korea to succeed.
Earlier, on November 3, the US State Department said it would request the UN Security Council committee to impose sanctions on seven ships accused of smuggling North Korean coal and iron ore to China. Meanwhile, South Korea’s intelligence agency said there is a strong possibility that North Korea and the US could hold a summit sometime after the annual joint military exercise between South Korea and the US in March next year, according to Yonhap.
Ahead of Donald Trump’s recent visit to Gyeongju in South Korea, speculation had surfaced about a potential meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering. The meeting, however, did not materialize.
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