North Korea, Russia reaffirm commitment to partnership accord

SEOUL: The foreign ministers of North Korea and Russia reaffirmed their commitment to implement provisions agreed in June between the leaders of the two nations, North Korean state media KCNA reported on Saturday.

North Korea foreign minister Choe Son Hui and her Russian counterpart Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov met in Moscow, amid rising concerns about Pyongyang's involvement in Moscow's war in Ukraine.

Nato has joined the governments of South Korea, the U.S. and Ukraine in confirming Pyongyang's dispatch of troops to Russia, saying that North Korean military units had been deployed to Russia's Kursk region on the border with Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June agreed that the two countries would provide military and other assistance if either were attacked, as part of a strategic partnership accord.