Russia's top security official, Sergei Shoigu, has arrived in Pyongyang to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and other officials, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported Friday.
The visit by Shoigu, who serves as the secretary of Russia's Security Council, came just days after the Kremlin said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to a limited 30-day ceasefire on energy targets during a phone call with US President Donald Trump, who has pushed for a swift end to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Putin, however, has opposed a full US-Ukrainian proposal for a complete ceasefire in the Ukraine war, where North Korea has made large-scale troop deployments and supplied weapons.
North Korean state media swiftly confirmed the arrival of the Russian Security Council delegation led by Shoigu on Friday, marking a departure from its usual practice of confirming such visits the day after they occur,
The delegation was greeted by Pak Jong-chon, vice-chair of the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea; Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jong-gyu; and Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexandr Matsegora, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
KCNA also reported that the Shoigu-led Russian delegation visited and laid a wreath at the Liberation Tower on Friday.
The Liberation Tower, erected in Pyongyang in 1947, commemorates the sacrifice of the Red Army of the former Soviet Union, which North Korea claims helped the Korean people liberate the country from Japan’s colonial rule from 1910 to 1945. The monument serves as a vivid reminder of the friendship between North Korea and Russia.
Shoigu’s trip also follows a visit to Pyongyang last week by Russian Vice Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko.
Rudenko met North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui and Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jong-gyu on March 15, according to North Korean state media reports the following day.
Those reports included an English-language statement that Rudenko and Kim “discussed in detail the practical ways for … boosting mutual support and cooperation in the international arena in the spirit of the agreements reached at the historic DPRK-Russia summit in June 2024 and the treaty on comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, and reached a consensus of views.”
In June 2024, Kim Jong-un and Putin signed a treaty on a comprehensive strategic partnership, which stipulates mutual defense commitments — a move some interpreted as the revival of a Cold War-era military alliance.
Shoigu’s latest visit to Pyongyang also notably comes a day before the foreign ministers of South Korea, Japan and China are scheduled to hold a trilateral meeting in Tokyo — the first in 16 months and the first since US President Donald Trump’s return to office.
Shoigu last visited Pyongyang in September 2024, when he also met with Kim. Russia’s Security Council later explained that the meeting would "make an important contribution to the implementation" of the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Shoigu previously visited Pyongyang in his capacity as Russia’s defense minister to attend celebrations commemorating July 27 — the day of signing the Korean Armistice Agreement.
During the visit, Kim Jong-un himself showcased a range of locally produced weaponry -- including the Hwasong-17 and Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missiles, along with newly designed uncrewed aerial vehicle -- to Shoigu during a defense show in Pyongyang.
dagyumji@heraldcorp.com
