Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit North Korea this weekend, the latest in a series of high-profile visits by top Moscow officials as the two countries deepen military ties.
Lavrov "will visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on July 11-13" for the "second round of strategic dialogue at the level of foreign ministers," Russian ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency reported earlier that Lavrov would visit "at the invitation of the DPRK Foreign Ministry."
Pyongyang has become one of Moscow's main allies during its more than three-year-long invasion of Ukraine, sending thousands of troops and container loads of weapons to help the Kremlin oust Ukrainian forces from Russia's western Kursk region.
Around 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting for Russia, Seoul has said.
North Korea only confirmed it had deployed troops to support Russia's war in April, and admitted its soldiers had been killed in combat.
Leader Kim Jong Un has subsequently been shown in state media images honouring the flag-draped coffins of North Korean soldiers killed helping Russia fight Ukraine.
Russia's security chief Sergei Shoigu has visited Pyongyang multiple times this year, including last month, when the two countries marked the one year anniversary of the signing of a sweeping military pact.
The two heavily-sanctioned nations signed the military deal last year, including a mutual defense clause, during a rare visit by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the nuclear-armed North.
Shoigu announced that the nuclear-armed North would send builders and deminers to the Kursk region.
The frequency of senior Russian officials' visits to Pyongyang "is highly unusual", Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University, told AFP.
"At the centre of these discussions may well be plans for Kim's anticipated visit to Russia," he added.
By AFP
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