By Ju-min Park
SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a rare visit to the Russian embassy in Pyongyang with his daughter on Friday to celebrate Russia’s Victory Day to mark the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, state media said.
Kim said North Korea will “consolidate and develop the long tradition of the DPRK-Russia relations, the noble ideological foundation and the invincible alliance”, KCNA reported.
North Korea’s unprecedented deployment of thousands of troops, as well as huge amounts of artillery ammunition and missiles, has helped Russia push back a Ukrainian incursion into its western Kursk region. It has also brought North Korea and Russia – both economically and politically isolated – closer.
About 600 North Korean troops have been killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine out of a total deployment of 15,000, according to the South Korean intelligence.
In return, Pyongyang appears to have received technical assistance on satellites, as well as drones and anti-aircraft missiles, South Korea has said.
Russia is marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two on Friday with a military parade attended by China’s Xi Jinping, three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Chinese troops took part in the Moscow parade, and some North Korean soldiers in uniform were spotted watching the parade.
Afterwards, Putin greeted North Korean army generals with handshakes, hugging one of them.
“Pyongyang and Moscow will always be together,” said North Korea’s foreign minister Choe Son Hui, according to KCNA.
Pyongyang and Moscow have denied the weapons trade, although the two countries have confirmed the deployment of North Korean troops on the frontlines in Russia’s Kursk region.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Philippa Fletcher)
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