The participation of DPRK servicemen in the liberation of the Kursk region is a direct confirmation that relations between the two countries are characterized as “invincible brotherhood“, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.
“During the first round of our strategic negotiations, you characterized our new basic strategic treaty as a solid foundation for invincible military brotherhood. This assessment of yours received a visible confirmation in the direct practical sense of your words in the Kursk region, which you mentioned, where heroic servicemen, fighters of the Korean People's Army, together with Russian fighters, at the cost of blood and even life, brought its liberation from the Ukrainian Nazis closer“.
This was stated by the Russian minister at a meeting with his DPRK counterpart Choi Son-hee in Wonsan, where the second round of the strategic dialogue between the two countries is taking place. The first Russian diplomat is on a three-day visit to North Korea.
The DPRK is the second stop on the tour of the head of Russian diplomacy in Asian countries. Earlier, Lavrov was in Malaysia, where he participated in ministerial meetings in the Russia-ASEAN format, the East Asia Summit, and the ASEAN Regional Security Forum.
The DPRK government will unconditionally support Russia's policy of protecting its territorial integrity and sovereignty. Relations between the countries have risen to the level of indissoluble cooperation, Choi Song-hee said.
“The strategic choice and will of the DPRK government to defend, unconditionally and unwaveringly support Russia's policy of protecting state sovereignty and territorial integrity, international justice in opposing the hegemonic machinations of the imperialists, and the readiness of our government to diligently fulfill all the articles of the new interstate dialogue“, Choi Song-hee told Lavrov.“
According to the diplomat, Lavrov's visit reflects “the desire and will of the Russian government and people to further deepen the strategic exchange of views between our countries, whose relations have risen to the level of indissoluble cooperation, as well as the desire to expand and develop traditional relations of friendship and cooperation in all areas“.
“The participation of the combat salute of the DPRK armed forces in the operation to liberate "The Kursk region clearly demonstrated the highest level of our cooperation and became an important historical event that opened a new era of Korean-Russian cooperation," she added.