Putin says 'everything going to plan' with North Korea

Russian President Vladimir Putin asked North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui during talks in the Kremlin on Monday to tell her country's leader Kim Jong Un that everything was "going to plan" in bilateral relations.

Putin and Kim sealed a strategic partnership treaty last year, which included a mutual defence pact, and North Korea has sent soldiers, artillery ammunition and missiles to Russia to support Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine.

"We talked in detail in Beijing about our relations and prospects for development," Putin told Choe, referring to talks the Russian leader held with Kim during celebrations in the Chinese capital last month to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Asia.

"Everything is going according to plan. Please convey my best wishes to him (Kim)," Putin said.

Ukraine and South Korea estimate that North Korea deployed more than 10,000 troops to the war in Ukraine in return for economic and military technology assistance from Russia. South Korea's intelligence agency estimated in September that about 2,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed in the fighting.

Choe also held discussions in Moscow on Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on bilateral relations and regional dynamics in Asia.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, both ministers agreed that rising tensions on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia stem from the "aggressive actions of the United States and its allies".

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