(Yonhap) -- North Korean delegations will visit Russia this week, the North's official news media said Friday, where they are thought likely to discuss economic cooperation with their ally.

   Delegations from the DPRK-Russia Friendship Association and the General Bureau of Diplomatic Corps Affairs left North Korea Friday to visit the Amur Region, the (North) Korean Central News Agency said in a brief dispatch.

   It did not elaborate on the purpose of the Russia visit. North Korean watchers said the delegations may discuss economic cooperation between the two countries, including agricultural cooperation.

   The allies have been in talks over an agricultural deal in which the North borrows part of the Amur region to produce farm products with North Korean labor.