‘US charges of N.korean military aid are rumours’
SEOUL: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said US allegations that Moscow is receiving military assistance from North Korea are mere “rumours,” the Russian state news agency TASS reported on Friday.
The White House said on Oct.13 that North Korea recently provided Russia with a shipment of weapons, calling it a troubling development and raising concerns about the expanded military relationship between the two countries.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for a rare summit last month at which they discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and possible Russian help for the secretive state’s satellite programme.
Kim Jong Un expressed his resolve to fulfill agreements made at his summit last month with Putin as he met Lavrov, state media KCNA reported on Friday.
Kim took a rare trip to Russia last month during which he invited Putin to Pyongyang and discussed military co-operation, including over North Korea’s satellite programme, and the war in Ukraine.
Kim and Lavrov discussed ways to ramp up cooperation to actively respond to regional and global issues based on “solid political and strategic trust relations,” and Lavrov conveyed Putin’s greetings to Kim, KCNA said.
Kim pledged to “work out a stable, forwardlooking, far-reaching plan for the Dprk-russia relations in the new era by faithfully implementing the agreements... and push forward with the cause of building a powerful state,” KCNA said.
He was referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and Lavrov signed a plan for exchanges in 202425 as they held separate talks to follow up on the summit and explore greater co-operation on the economy, culture and advanced science and technology, KCNA said.
The two diplomats also discussed how to place bilateral ties “on a higher stage,” it said.
“Both sides had an in-depth exchange of views on intensifying joint action on several regional and international issues including the situation on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asian region and reached a consensus of views on them,” KCNA said in another dispatch.
Lavrov has departed Pyongyang ater the meetings, it said.