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An army delegation from Russia, led by the defence deputy minister, is visiting North Korea, state media of South Korea reported on Thursday.
Yonhap news outlet reported the arrival of the Russian military officials in Pyongyang, along with a photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. The photo showed General Viktor Goremykin, Russian deputy defence minister who also oversees the Main Military-Political Directorate of the country's armed forces, with the deputy chief of the North Korean People's Army's General Political Bureau, Gen. Pak Yong Il, at the Pyongyang's Sunan International Airport on Wednesday. Cooperation and exchanges between Russia and North Korea have stepped up in recent years. In 2024, the two countries signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty. North Korea has been sending thousands of troops to support Russia in the conflict with Ukraine. The Russian delegation's visit to North Korea comes amidst Pyongyang vowing to take action to counter sanctions imposed on Tuesday by the US President Donald Trump's administration on North Korea. The US Treasury Department announced earlier this week that it had imposed sanctions on eight North Korean individuals and two entities for their role in laundering funds stolen through illicit cyber activities. The department said that the individuals were "state-sponsored hackers," whose illicit operations were conducted "to fund the regime's nuclear weapons programme." Pyongyang termed the sanctions a demonstration of Washington's hostile policy. Yonhap cited a statement released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in which Kim Un-chol, North Korea's vice foreign minister in charge of US affairs, said that by imposing fresh sanctions, the US has showed its "invariable hostile" intentions toward North Korea in an "accustomed and traditional way." Denouncing the US for revealing its "wicked nature," the North's official warned Washington should not expect its tactics of pressure, appeasement, threat, and blackmail against North Korea will work. Previously, on November 3, the US State Department had said that it would request the UN Security Council committee to impose sanctions on seven ships accused of smuggling North Korean coal and iron ore to China. Meanwhile, South Korea's intelligence agency has said that there is a high possibility that North Korea and the US would hold a summit some time after an annual joint military exercise between South Korea and the US in March next year, as per Yonhap news agency. Ahead of Donald Trump's recent visit to Gyeongju in South Korea, there was speculation that there could be a meeting with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering. The meeting, however, did not materialise. (ANI)
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