Russia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed on Wednesday that North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, will hold strategic consultations in Moscow.
Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the ministry, announced during a news briefing that the North Korean minister is en route to Moscow. She promised to reveal more details about the discussions with Lavrov, including the precise timing, at a later time.
“Following the agreement established at the Russian-Korean summit in Pyongyang this past June, Choe Son Hui, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is set to arrive in Moscow for an official visit. During this visit, she will engage in strategic consultations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov,” stated Zakharova.
The minister’s second visit to Russia in just six weeks coincides with a troubling escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Both NATO and South Korea have raised concerns over the possibility of North Korean troops aligning with Moscow in this ongoing crisis.
The United States and NATO have reported the presence of North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region, a border area in Russia that witnessed a significant incursion by Ukrainian forces in August, resulting in the occupation of hundreds of square kilometers of territory. The Pentagon reported on Tuesday that a few thousand additional North Korean troops were en route to the region.
On Tuesday, North Korea’s foreign minister made her way to Moscow, arriving in Russia’s far east, according to reports from Russian state media.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin directed inquiries regarding her visit to the foreign ministry, stating that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no intentions of meeting with her.
Moscow has the right to develop its relationship with Pyongyang in accordance with its own interests, including the terms of a mutual defense agreement set earlier this year, according to Russian government officials.
