North Korea offers full support to Russia against Ukraine

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered Moscow his full support in the war in Ukraine on Saturday during his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, state news agency KCNA reported early Sunday.

Lavrov's official visit is the latest in a series of high-level meetings with senior Moscow officials that reflect the deepening of bilateral relations amid Russia's offensive against Kiev.

North Korea has supplied weapons and thousands of troops to support the Russian offensive, particularly in the Kursk region to expel Ukrainian forces.

Kim and Lavrov met on Saturday in "an atmosphere filled with the trust and warm camaraderie," North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported.

Lavrov posted a video on Telegram of himself and Kim shaking hands and hugging, and said their conversation took place in Wonsan, a city on the country's east coast.

Kim told Foreign Minister Lavrov that North Korea was "ready to unconditionally support and encourage all measures taken by the Russian leadership to address the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis," KCNA reported.

The North Korean leader also expressed his "firm conviction that the Russian army and people would surely win victory by fulfilling the sacred cause of the country's dignity and essential interests."

The two men also discussed "important issues to faithfully implement the agreements reached at the historic summit talks between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Russia in June 2024 ," KCNA said, using the acronym for North Korea's official name.

In recent years, the two countries have strengthened their military cooperation. They signed a mutual defense agreement during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea last year.

According to the TASS news agency, Lavrov said that President Putin "expects direct contacts to be maintained in the very near future."

Russian and North Korean state media said Lavrov would stay until Sunday.

Lavrov thanked his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui on Saturday for their "heroic" North Korean soldiers who helped the Russian army expel Ukrainian troops from the Kursk border region, where they had invaded in August 2024.

Moscow said it had expelled Ukrainian troops from the area in April and thanked North Korean forces at the time, acknowledging for the first time its direct involvement in the conflict.

Asked about the possibility of North Korean troops being deployed to other parts of the front line, Lavrov said it was up to Pyongyang to decide.

"We proceed from the principle that the DPRK itself determines the ways in which we implement our strategic partnership agreement," the minister said, according to TASS.

This trip by the Russian diplomat comes a month and a half after Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu visited Pyongyang.