North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui arrived in Moscow on Saturday for an official visit at the invitation of her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, with both countries' state media confirming the trip. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported the visit on Sunday, noting that Choe departed Pyongyang aboard her official plane, though it offered no further details on the agenda or itinerary. Russia's foreign ministry also announced her arrival without elaborating on the substance of the talks.
The visit marks Choe's first trip to Russia since October, when she travelled to Moscow on a working visit and attended a global security forum in Belarus. It follows a flurry of high-level diplomatic activity between the two countries, including a second strategic dialogue held in Wonsan — a port city on North Korea's east coast — just days ago. Speculation has grown that the visit may be preparatory groundwork for a potential trip to Moscow by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, given that Russian President Vladimir Putin has extended an invitation for summit talks and no major diplomatic anniversary appears to explain the timing.
The two countries have been steadily deepening their partnership since Kim and Putin signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty in June 2024, an agreement widely seen as effectively reviving the military alliance the two nations maintained during the Cold War era. Under that framework, North Korea has deployed approximately 15,000 combat troops to support Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine and has supplied missiles and munitions. In return, analysts say Moscow has been providing financial assistance, military technology, food, and energy to Pyongyang, which faces broad international isolation and sanctions.
In April, Kim Jong-un publicly pledged to help Russia win what he called its "sacred" war, and Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov visited Pyongyang the same month for talks on strengthening military cooperation, with Moscow signalling readiness to sign a bilateral cooperation plan covering 2027 to 2031. North Korea's foreign ministry has defended the partnership as an "exercise of sovereign rights," even as South Korea and the European Union have condemned it.
Choe's visit also comes as Pyongyang works to strengthen ties with China, its traditional ally and primary economic benefactor. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Pyongyang last month for talks with Kim, and the two countries have stepped up high-level exchanges around the 65th anniversary of their friendship treaty. The simultaneous deepening of relations with both Moscow and Beijing underscores North Korea's effort to consolidate its diplomatic position amid continued pressure from Western nations.