Kim Jong-un held a meeting with the head of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, Alexander Kozlov

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a meeting with Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Alexander Kozlov in Pyongyang. This was reported on November 19 by the Korean Central Telegraphic Agency (KCTAK).

It is noted that Kozlov arrived to participate in a meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation.

During the meeting, Kim Jong-un noted closer and deeper cooperation between the two countries after the conclusion of the agreement on comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and the DPRK. In this regard, he proposed to "stimulate intergovernmental trade, economic, scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation even more broadly and multifacetedly to promote the joint prosperity and development of the two countries."

The CTAC added that the talk was held in a friendly, sincere and warm atmosphere "full of feeling between friends" at the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea Central Committee.

Earlier, on November 17, a Russian government delegation headed by Alexander Kozlov, chairman of the commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation between the DPRK and the Russian Federation, Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology, arrived in Pyongyang to participate in the 11th meeting of the intergovernmental commission.

Russia and the DPRK are actively and very successfully developing diplomatic relations. Thus, on October 29, DPRK Foreign Minister Choi Seong-hee paid an official visit to Moscow as part of the strategic dialog, an agreement to intensify which was reached by Russian and DPRK leaders Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un during the Russian President's state visit to Pyongyang. In June, Putin emphasized that cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow is based on the principles of equal rights and mutual respect for the interests of the two states.