The head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, visited Pyongyang earlier this week to discuss security co-operation, North Korean state news agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday.
Naryshkin met with North Korean Minister of State Security, Ri Chang Dae, during a state visit on 25-27 March. The officials discussed strengthening co-operation “to cope with the ever-growing spying and plotting moves by the hostile forces,” according to KCNA.
Both countries face a slew of global sanctions, with Moscow facing restrictions for its war in Ukraine and Pyongyang for testing nuclear weapons.
The two sides reached a complete consensus of views on the issues on the table at the two talks that proceeded in a comradely and amicable atmosphere.
The United States claimed North Korea had begun supplying Russia with weapons after Russian President Vladimir Putin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Russia’s Far East. At the time, Kim stated that ties with Moscow were the “number one priority” for his country.
Earlier this month, South Korea argued that North Korea had allegedly sent about 7,000 containers of weapons to Russia, with the shipments started around July last year. Washington and experts claimed Pyongyang had requested assistance in return in the form of satellite technology and modernisation of Soviet-era military equipment.
South Korea and the US imposed new sanctions against North Korean individuals and entities based in Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates for their involvement in funding Pyongyang’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programmes.
Washington, in coordination with Seoul, blacklisted six North Korean individuals and two organisations involved in receiving foreign currency to finance “unlawful” nuclear and missile weapons programmes, the US Treasury Department reported on Wednesday.
In addition, the foreign ministry stated in a separate press release on Thursday that the two institutions and four individuals the South Korean government unilaterally imposed sanctions on were the same as the two organisations and six individuals the US named on its list. The two organisations are the Russian company Alice LLC and Pioneer Bencont Star Real Estate from the United Arab Emirates. The ministry stated that both companies collaborated with Jinyoung Information Technology Development Cooperation Company, an IT firm of the North Korean Ministry of National Defence.
The company sent North Korean IT staff to Russia, China and Laos and was sanctioned by South Korea and the United States last year.
The prior authorisation of the Governor of the Bank of Korea and the Chairman of the Financial Services Commission is required for Korean citizens to engage in foreign exchange or financial transactions with individuals or institutions designated as sanctioned entities. Transactions without authorisation may be penalised in accordance with relevant laws.
South Korea and the US decided on the measure during the sixth session of the Working Group on DPRK (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) Cyber Threats in Washington earlier this week.
