Senior Russian official meets with North Korean secret police chief
A senior Russian official has thanked North Korea for its dispatch of troops to Russia in a meeting with the chief of the North's secret police.
Russia's Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu met with North Korea's state security minister Ri Chang Dae in Moscow on Wednesday.
Shoigu said he expresses his gratitude to North Korean soldiers who, shoulder to shoulder with Russian fighters, defended the Kursk region as their own homeland.
North Korean soldiers took part in Russian operations to regain areas in the region where the Ukrainian military had taken control.
Shoigu said State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin will visit North Korea in August in connection with the country's anniversary of liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
Shoigu also said Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, will travel to the North in October, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean Workers' Party.
Shoigu noted that this year will see many large-scale events and contacts between the two countries.
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