In a one-line report on Wednesday, the South Korean Central News Agency said Lavrov will visit Pyongyang from Friday to Sunday at the invitation of DPRK’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Russian Foreign Minister could meet his counterpart Cho’s son Hui and possibly his leader Kim Jong Un.
This will be Lavrov’s third visit to North Korea two years later. He first traveled to Pyongyang for a meeting with Cho and Kim in October 2023, and joined Russian President Vladimir Putin on a trip to DPRK in June 2024.
During that trip, it was on that trip that the two leaders laid the foundations for Moscow Piyonyan’s military relationship and signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement that ultimately evolved into a de facto defence alliance. The two countries are using the deal to justify the deployment of North Korean soldiers to fight Kursk’s Ukrainian forces.
Lavrov previously welcomed Choe in Moscow in November 2024, pledging that the two diplomats would hold a “strategic dialogue” and strengthen military ties amid joint resistance to US-led pressure. Cho also traveled to Moscow that January that year for a meeting with Putin.
Lavrov’s Deputy Andrei Rudenko announced her boss’s plan to visit North Korea in March this year, but did not disclose the time frame.
The arrival of staff comes amid the Ukrainian peace process is at a dead end, renewing tensions between US President Donald Trump and the Kremlin.
Also last month, another high-ranking Russian security official, Sergei Shoigu, made a similar visit to Pyongyang, during which Kim vowed to send 6,000 military engineers and construction workers to Kursk, in addition to a strong initial deployment of 12,000 since October.
rhm/