• A delegation of the Russian army’s Military Academy of the General Staff arrived in Pyongyang on Monday, state media reported, while a Pyongyang city council committee delegation also left for Russia

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russia’s natural resources minister Alexander Kozlov on Monday, state media KCNA reported, in the latest sign of growing ties between Pyongyang and Moscow.

During the meeting, Kim said cooperation in trade, science and technology should expand for the two countries’ development and prosperity, according to the report published on Tuesday.

“It is necessary to mutually and powerfully propel the co-prosperity and development of the two countries by further promoting the inter-governmental trade, economic, scientific and technological exchange and cooperation in a more extensive and diversified way,” Kim was quoted was saying in the report.

A delegation of the Russian army’s Military Academy of the General Staff arrived in Pyongyang on Monday, state media reported, while a Pyongyang city council committee delegation also left for Russia.

The exchange between Pyongyang and Moscow came as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, urged the two countries to end their military cooperation which he called illegal.

A separate column carried by KCNA on Tuesday criticized the trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the US and Japan including a summit held last week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Lima, Peru.

It said such cooperation including military drills created discord and confrontation.

Reuters