North Korea and Russia agreed to expand economic cooperation

SEOUL — North Korea and Russia have reached a new agreement to expand economic cooperation following high-level talks in Pyongyang this week, North Korean state media reported on Thursday, as they continue to unite in the face of their confrontation with Washington.

North Korea’s official Central News Agency did not specify details of the agreement signed Wednesday between senior North Korean trade officials and a Russian delegation led by the country’s Natural Resources and Environment Minister Alexander Kozlov. Russian news agency TASS reported on Tuesday that officials, following a previous round of talks, had agreed to increase the number of charter flights between the countries to boost tourism.

Kozlov, who arrived in North Korea on Sunday, met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his top economic official, Prime Minister Kim Tok-hun, before returning home on Wednesday, KCNA reported. During Kozlov’s visit, Russian President Vladimir Putin donated more than 70 animals to the Pyongyang Central Zoo, including lions, bears and several species of birds, according to TASS, in further evidence of growing ties between the countries.

Kim Jong Un has been prioritizing relations with Moscow in recent months as he tries to break out of international isolation and strengthen his position by actively supporting Putin’s war with Ukraine while portraying the North as a united front player against Washington.

Kim has yet to directly admit that he supplied military equipment and troops to Russia to support its military operations against Ukraine. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers in a closed briefing on Wednesday that about 11,000 North Korean soldiers were deployed in late October to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops seized part of its territory this year after training in northeastern Russia.

The spy agency believes the North Korean soldiers were assigned to Russian marine and airborne units, and some have already begun fighting alongside the Russians on the front lines, said lawmaker Lee Seong-keun, who attended the meeting. U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian officials have said the North is also supplying Russia with artillery systems, missiles and other equipment.

According to a recent study by Lim Soo, North Korea could possibly receive between $320 billion and $1.3 billion a year from Russia for sending its troops to Ukraine, given the scale of the sending and the level of payments Russia provides to foreign mercenaries. -ho, South Korean analyst at a NIS-run think tank.

While that would be significant revenue for North Korea’s crippled and heavily sanctioned economy, it could be less than the money the North earns from illegal coal exports or military equipment shipments to Russia, Lim said. That suggests North Korea’s troop deployment is less about money and more about acquiring key Russian technology to further develop its nuclear weapons and missile program, a major concern in Seoul, Lim said.

Amid a stalemate in broader nuclear talks with Washington, Kim is increasing pressure on South Korea, abandoning his country’s long-standing goal of inter-Korean reconciliation and verbally threatening to launch a nuclear strike on the South if provoked. He has used Russia’s war with Ukraine as a distraction to accelerate the development of his nuclear army, which now has various nuclear systems aimed at South Korea and intercontinental ballistic missiles that could potentially reach the US mainland.

Tong-Hyun writes for the Associated Press.