North Korea gives warm welcome to Russian defense minister

North Korea warmly welcomed the Russian Defense Minister upon his arrival, according to official media reports on Wednesday.

Delegations from Moscow and Beijing are scheduled to attend the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the armistice agreement signed on July 27, 1953, which ended the Korean War. This marks the first visit of foreign official delegations since the pandemic.

The Russian national anthem was played at Pyongyang International Airport as "an atmosphere of warm welcome" greeted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his accompanying delegation on Tuesday evening, as reported by the Korean Central News Agency.

Flags of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation were raised, and the Korean People's Army honor guard stood in front of the hall.

North Korean Defense Minister Kang Son Nam received his Russian counterpart at the airport, and images published in the official newspaper Rodong Sinmun showed hundreds of soldiers in Korean People's Army uniforms lining the airport, holding banners welcoming the Russians.

The agency stated that the North Koreans expressed their "full support" for the Russian army and people "fighting to defend the sovereignty, development, and interests of their country," in reference to the war in Ukraine.

Russia, a historical ally of Pyongyang, is one of the few countries that maintain friendly relations with North Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supported Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and supplied it with shells and missiles, according to Washington.

Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, commented that the visit of the Russian Defense Minister to Pyongyang while his country is at war is "of great importance."

He told AFP that "despite the emergency quarantine measures, Kim Jong Un may have felt the need to show something to his people during the Victory Day celebrations."

For both China and Russia, their presence could send a "strong and unified message" to the United States.

China also confirmed that it would send a delegation led by Communist Party Politburo member Li Hongzhong, expected to arrive in Pyongyang on Wednesday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFP