SEOUL, March 28, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Russia's spy chief visited Pyongyang
earlier this week to discuss security cooperation, North Korea's state news
agency reported Thursday, as the historical allies deepen ties amid Moscow's
war in Ukraine.

Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service, met
with North Korea's State Security Minister Ri Chang Dae during his visit on
March 25-27.

The officials discussed boosting cooperation "to cope with the ever-growing
spying and plotting moves by the hostile forces," KCNA reported.

Russia and North Korea are both under a raft of global sanctions -- Moscow
for its invasion of Ukraine, and Pyongyang for its testing of nuclear
weapons.

In September last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un held a summit in Russia's far east, during which Kim
declared that ties with Moscow were his country's "number one priority".

The United States subsequently claimed Pyongyang had begun providing Moscow
with weapons.

And South Korea asserted earlier this month that North Korea had shipped
around 7,000 containers of arms to Russia for its war with Ukraine since the
transfers began around last July.

Washington and experts have said Pyongyang was seeking a range of military
assistance in return, such as satellite technology and upgrading its Soviet-
era military equipment.

"The two sides reached a complete consensus of views on the issues on the
table at the two talks that proceeded in a comradely and amicable
atmosphere," the KCNA report said.