North Korea Foreign Minister leaves for Russia on official visit amid deepening ties between nations

PYONGYANG: As the two countries' military cooperation grows, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui has left for an official visit to Moscow at her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov's request, Yonhap News Agency reported quoting state media on Monday. Choe is slated to visit Russia from Monday to Wednesday at Lavrov's invitation, and her delegation was seen off at the airport Sunday by Vice Foreign Minister Pak Chol-jun and Russia's Charge d'Affaires ad Interim Vladimir Topeha, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Her visit seems to be a reciprocal journey after Lavrov visited Pyongyang in October. Yonhap reported that there are suspicions that North Korea gave Russia weaponry to deploy in its conflict with Ukraine in exchange for Russia providing technical support for Pyongyang's nuclear programmes. However, Pyongyang and Moscow have denied any arms deals so far.

The White House, last week announced that Russia has launched more North Korean ballistic missiles into Ukraine, following two previous launches on December 30 to January 2.

The question of whether Choe and Lavrov will talk about Putin visiting North Korea is also gaining interest, given that the Russian president accepted Kim's invitation to travel to the North at their summit at Russia's Vostochny spaceport in September of last year, according to Yonhap News Agency.

In October last year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Pyongyang. Russian Foreign Minister was, at that time, on his official visit to North Korea where he met with various top leaders and ministers of North Korea. Lavrov also met with the North Korean counterpart, Choe Son-hui and also participated in the signing ceremony of the Inter-Ministry of Foreign Affairs Exchange plan.

Meanwhile on Sunday, North Korea launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile off its east coast, the New York Times reported. The missile launched, fell in waters between North Korea and Japan . The launch was the North Korea's first missile test since it fired the Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile on December 18.