North Korea's top diplomat meets with Putin on a visit to Russia

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MOSCOW (AP) — North Korea’s top diplomat visited the Kremlin on Monday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which followed last month’s meeting between the countries’ leaders. The show of deepening ties came as U.S. President Donald Trump visits Asia.

In a separate meeting with her Russian counterpart, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui confirmed North Korea’s “unwavering understanding and support” for Putin’s war against Ukraine, North Korean state media said Tuesday.

North Korea in recent months has sent thousands of troops and large quantities of military equipment to Russia to support its war effort, a growing alignment that has fueled leader Kim Jong Un’s increasingly assertive foreign policy as he seeks to break out of isolation and position his country as part of a united front against the U.S.-led West. North Korea has shunned any form of talks with Washington and Seoul since Kim’s high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with Trump fell apart in 2019 during the American president’s first term.

Putin and Kim met in Beijing in September after attending a major military parade in the heart of the Chinese capital that marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Putin asked North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui on Monday to convey his best wishes to Kim, noting that they had a very warm meeting, according to his televised remarks at the start of the talks.

Before attending the Kremlin meeting with Putin, Choe held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who again hailed North Korean troops for fighting alongside the Russian military in the Kursk region after a surprise Ukrainian incursion.

“These heroic deeds will, of course, further strengthen the bonds of friendship and historical unity in our shared struggle for justice,” Lavrov said.

Choe noted “considerable progress” in relations between the two countries and confirmed Pyongyang’s support for “all measures” taken by Russia to defend its security interests and “eliminate the root cause” of its conflict with Ukraine, according to Russian and North Korean media.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Russian officials, during their meeting with Choe, expressed Moscow’s support for all of Pyongyang’s efforts to “firmly defend its current status, security interests, and sovereign rights.” The two sides discussed expanding high-level exchanges and cooperation and coordinating their diplomacy on unspecified “major issues of mutual concern,” KCNA said.

According to South Korean assessments, North Korea has sent around 15,000 troops to Russia since last fall and also supplied large quantities of military equipment, including artillery and ballistic missiles to support Moscow’s military action in Ukraine. Kim has also agreed to send thousands of military construction workers and deminers to Russia’s Kursk region.

Kim has focused on expanding the capabilities of his nuclear-armed military since his diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019 due to disagreements over U.S.-led economic sanctions. Last month, Kim suggested he could return to talks if Washington drops its demand for North Korea’s denuclearization, after Trump repeatedly expressed his hopes for new diplomacy.

___ Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed from Seoul, South Korea.