North Korea's Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui Travels to Moscow for Talks with Lavrov

North Korea's top diplomat, Choe Son Hui, departed Pyongyang for Moscow on July 18 aboard her personal aircraft to hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. Russia's foreign ministry had confirmed the visit in advance, framing it as a continuation of the close coordination between the two governments.

The trip comes two years after Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Pyongyang in 2024 and signed a mutual defense agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a pact that formalized what had already become a fast-growing partnership between the two isolated and sanctioned states.

Since then, North Korea has supplied Russia with missiles, artillery shells and thousands of troops to bolster Moscow's war effort in Ukraine. In exchange, analysts say, Russia has provided Pyongyang with financial assistance, military technology, food and energy supplies, helping the North Korean regime offset the impact of international sanctions.

In April, Kim Jong Un publicly pledged to support Russia in what he described as its "sacred" war, further cementing Pyongyang's role as one of Moscow's few reliable allies amid the ongoing conflict. That same month, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov led a delegation of senior officials to Pyongyang for discussions on expanding bilateral military cooperation, reportedly including plans for a new cooperation framework covering 2027 to 2031.

The growing alignment between Pyongyang and Moscow has drawn sharp criticism from South Korea and the European Union, both of which have condemned the exchange of troops and weapons for aid as a destabilizing development that prolongs the war in Ukraine and strengthens North Korea's military capabilities. Pyongyang's foreign ministry has dismissed such criticism, describing its cooperation with Russia as a legitimate "exercise of sovereign rights."

Choe's visit is expected to focus on consolidating the diplomatic and security ties built over the past two years, though North Korean and Russian state media have so far released few details on the specific agenda of her meetings with Lavrov.