(Bloomberg) — Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu held talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, a visit likely to raise concerns about arms shipments to support the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.
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Shoigu and Kim discussed a wide range of bilateral and international issues when they met Friday, according to a Security Council statement. The meeting is aimed at facilitating a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership treaty that Kim signed with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June, it said.
The visit is Shoigu’s second to North Korea in just over a year. As Russia’s then-defense minister, he met Kim in July 2023 and was given a tour of North Korea’s latest weapons, including ballistic missiles that Ukraine and others said found their way onto the battlefield a few months later.
Shortly after that visit, satellite images showed an increase in trade between North Korea and Russia. According to the US and its partners, the trade included millions of artillery shells and short-range ballistic missiles that were used to attack Ukraine.
The two also met when Kim visited Russia in September of that year.
Shoigu’s latest visit is part of a series of high-level meetings between the neighbors, including Putin’s first trip to North Korea in 24 years and the sending of a high-level military delegation to Pyongyang in July.
Kim also received the Russian delegation and pledged North Korean support for Moscow’s military operations in Ukraine, the official Korean News Agency reported.
In the agreement signed by Kim and Putin, the two sides pledged to defend each other if either was attacked. It further ties the two American adversaries together and raises the risks of military action on the Korean Peninsula.
Kim has large stockpiles of munitions compatible with Soviet-era systems that Russia is using on the front lines in Ukraine. In exchange for the weapons, Russia has provided materials and technology that have bolstered North Korea’s economy and Kim’s weapons development, South Korean officials say.
Official North Korean media has not yet reported on Shoigu’s visit, but earlier this week Pyongyang test-fired a ballistic missile it had shipped to Russia.
North Korea and Russia deny allegations of arms transfers, despite ample evidence that they are taking place.
(Updates with details on military cooperation in the seventh paragraph)
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