SEOUL, South Korea: Russia’s spy chief visited North Korea earlier this week to discuss security cooperation, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported Thursday.
The visit comes amid Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The head of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, met with North Korea’s State Security Minister Ri Chang Dae during his visit on March 25-27.
The officials discussed enhancing cooperation “to cope with the ever-growing spying and plotting moves by the hostile forces,” the news agency reported.
North Korea and Russia are both under a range of global sanctions — Pyongyang for its testing of nuclear weapons, and Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
In September last year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a summit in Russia’s far east, during which the North Korean leader declared that relations with Moscow were his country’s “number one priority”.
The US subsequently claimed North Korea had begun providing Moscow with weapons.
South Korea also asserted earlier this month that North had shipped around 7,000 containers of arms to Russia for its Ukraine war since the transfers began around July 2023.
Washington and experts believe that North Korea was seeking a range of military assistance in return, such as satellite technology and upgrading its Soviet-era military equipment.
The KCNA further reported that the two sides were unanimous in their views on the issues on the agenda during the two rounds of talks.
