North Korean senior official met Russia's Putin: state media
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with senior North Korean official Ri Hi Yong in Moscow on Thursday, according to Pyongyang's state media. The meeting came on the same day that South Korea's spy agency reported that North Korea had sent more troops to Russia for the war in Ukraine, though the number of troops was not disclosed.
- Asia
- AFP
- Published Date: 01:01 | 01 March 2025
- Modified Date: 01:12 | 01 March 2025
Russia's President Vladimir Putin met with a senior North Korean official in Moscow earlier this week, Pyongyang's state media said Saturday.
The meeting on Thursday occurred on the same day that South Korea's spy agency said the North had dispatched more troops to Russia for its war efforts in Ukraine, without disclosing how many.
Seoul's intelligence also said North Korea had redeployed its soldiers to the front line in Kursk, where Ukraine previously said they had been withdrawn following heavy losses.
Ri Hi Yong, a member of North Korea's Politburo and secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, met with Putin in the Kremlin, the official Korean Central News Agency said.
During the meeting, Putin thanked North Korea for "its positive support to the Russian Federation", it said.
The Kremlin confirmed the meeting in a statement on Thursday.
Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has officially acknowledged that North Koreans have been deployed to fight against Ukraine.
The two countries have boosted their military cooperation since Russia launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
European leaders threw their support behind Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday after a televised spat at the White House between the Ukrainian leader and US President Donald Trump cast doubts over efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.