SEOUL, July 24, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Belarus's top diplomat has arrived in Pyongyang for a four-day visit, North Korean state media said Wednesday, as the two heavily sanctioned countries look to deepen ties.

"At the invitation of the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK, Maxim Ruzenkov, foreign minister of the Republic of Belarus, arrived here on Tuesday to pay an official visit," the official Korean Central News Agency said.

Ruzenkov's trip comes as the two states have strengthened ties with Russia amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

North Korea will "deepen ties with Minsk on all fronts to open a new era of improved relationships," Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said at a dinner welcoming the Belarusian delegation, according to KCNA.

Ruzenkov was reported as saying Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un both hoped to nurture a closer relationship.

In 2022, Russia used Belarus as a launchpad for its invasion of Ukraine. Last month, the European Union agreed on new sanctions against Belarus over its role in the Ukraine war.

In June, Russian leader Vladimir Putin made his first visit to North Korea in 24 years and signed a strategic treaty with leader Kim Jong Un, including a commitment to come to each other's aid if attacked.

Seoul and Washington accuse North Korea of supplying ammunition and missiles to Russia for its war, and the new treaty has fuelled fears of more deliveries.

The nuclear-armed North had sent more than 11,000 containers capable of holding 5.2 million artillery shells and dozens of short-range ballistic missiles to Russia as of July 15, Seoul's Defence Minister Shin Won-sik told Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper in an interview published Wednesday.

Pyongyang has received fuel, food and military technology assistance in return, he said.