North Korean leader’s close aide visits Russia amid deepening bilateral ties
Seoul: A North Korean official considered to be one of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s closest aides has arrived in Russia, the North’s state media said on Sunday, amid deepening relations between the two countries following North Korea’s deployment of troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Jo Yong-won, secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party, arrived in Moscow by private plane on Saturday, leading a party and government delegation, reports Yonhap, quoting the Korean Central News Agency.
The visit comes at “a time when the militant friendship, friendship and relations of alliance between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation with independence and justice as their common ideal are being further cemented with each passing day,” it said in an English dispatch.
The delegation was invited by Dmitry Medvedev, chairman of Russia’s ruling United Russia party. They were greeted at the airport by Andrei Klimov, a member of the party’s Supreme Council and first vice chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, as well as North Korean Ambassador to Moscow Sin Hong-chol.
Speculation that Kim could visit Moscow this year surfaced when North Korea’s foreign minister made a surprise visit to Russia in July.
Jo’s trip comes days before US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, this week.
Trump plans to discuss reducing nuclear weapons with the leaders of China and Russia during an Asia visit next week, but US officials do not expect the three-way meeting to produce an agreement.
The meeting will conclude Trump’s visit to China, White House Assistant Press Secretary Olivia Wales said during a briefing on his planned trip to the Philippines and China.
A senior US official described the planned talks as the beginning of a conversation about reducing nuclear arsenals, rather than negotiations expected to yield an immediate pact.
“We do not expect to get to any kind of agreement,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Trump intends to discuss Iran during the meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, but Ukraine is not expected to be on the agenda, the official said.
