MOSCOW: Russia\u2019s security chief Sergei Shoigu discussed the Ukraine conflict with North Korea\u2019s Kim Jong Un on a visit to Pyongyang on Wednesday, Moscow\u2019s embassy in the reclusive state said.<\/p>\n
North Korea has become one of Russia\u2019s main allies during Moscow\u2019s more than three-year-long Ukraine offensive, sending thousands of troops to help the Kremlin oust Ukrainian forces from its Kursk border region.<\/p>\n
Pyongyang is also largely believed to be arming Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cSergei Shoigu was received by the Chairman of State Affairs of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un,\u201d the embassy said, adding that they \u201cexchanged views on the situation around the Ukrainian crisis and the Korean peninsula.\u201d<\/p>\n
It said talks took place \u201cin an atmosphere of friendly mutual understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shoigu also met with North Korean military official Pak Jong-chon, the embassy said.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s TASS news agency said earlier that Shoigu had arrived on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s visit is Shoigu\u2019s second to Pyongyang in less than three months.<\/p>\n
Pyongyang has defended its military cooperation with Russia, saying on Monday that ties were aimed at \u201censuring peace and stability\u201d in Europe and Asia.<\/p>\n
Around 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting for Russia, according to South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun, citing the country\u2019s intelligence service.<\/p>\n
Russia and North Korea signed a sweeping military deal last year, including a mutual defense clause, during a rare visit by Putin to the nuclear-armed North.<\/p>\n
Shoigu hailed the deal as \u201cfully meeting the interests of both countries\u201d during a visit in March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOSCOW: Russia\u2019s security chief Sergei Shoigu discussed the Ukraine conflict with North Korea\u2019s Kim Jong Un on a visit to Pyongyang on Wednesday, Moscow\u2019s embassy in the reclusive state said. North Korea has become one of Russia\u2019s main allies during Moscow\u2019s more than three-year-long Ukraine offensive, sending thousands of troops to help the Kremlin oust …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":82082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82069"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82083,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82069\/revisions\/82083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}