MOSCOW, July 20 (Reuters) – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin met North Korea’s Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui an the Kremlin on Sunday, thanking her for help in what Moscow calls the special military operation, the Kremlin said.
North Korean troops helped Russia repel a major Ukrainian incursion into its western Kursk region in 2024.
Under a mutual defence pact between the two countries, North Korea sent some 14,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russia in Kursk.
Ukrainian forces smashed across the border in August 2024 and held on to substantial pockets of territory for months.
Choe said in the meeting that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had recently reaffirmed the Asian nation’s commitment to the comprehensive development of relations with the Russian Federation, according to the Kremlin.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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