North Korea's elite military training delegation is going to russia with a visit, marking the first military exchange between the two countries since their leaders signed a pact on closer military cooperation.
The North Korean state media announced this, Reuters reports.
Thus, the president of the Kim Il Sung Military University, Kim Geum Chol, leads a delegation of military training officers and left by plane on Monday. No details are reported, including the purpose of the visit and where exactly they are in russia.
Named after the country's founder, the university is a training ground for elite military officers and the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, attended after studying in Switzerland as he prepared to become the country's third leader.
Over the past year, russia and North Korea have exchanged a record number of high-ranking officials, including russian president vladimir putin's visit to Pyongyang in June. At the summit, putin and Kim signed a "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership" treaty, which includes a mutual defense agreement that Kim says is tantamount to an alliance.
This public development of military ties between the two countries is said to be worrying South Korean and U.S. officials, who point to evidence of the North Korea supplying arms to russia for use against Ukraine and believe Pyongyang may be receiving undisclosed aid from moscow.
Both countries deny any supply of weapons.
South Korean President Yoon Seok Yeol, who will attend the NATO summit in Washington this week, warned moscow about the negative consequences of friendship with Pyongyang for active economic relations between the two countries.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the U.S. currently has no confirmation indicating the sending of North Korean engineer troops to russia to support russian aggression in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the publication of the American Robert Lansing Institute (RLI) states that the strengthening of cooperation between the aggressor country russia and North Korea is intended to force the U.S. to focus attention and resources on two different fronts: in Ukraine and the Asia-Pacific region.
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