DPRK envoy to Moscow meets Russian Top Diplomat For Africa and the Middle East
Pyongyang’s border closure and the bleeding out of Russian diplomats from the North Korean capital has placed the DPRK’s ambassador to Russia, Sin Hong Chol, at the forefront of face-to-face contacts between North Korean and Russian diplomats. It has not been unusual for Sin to meet with Igor Morgulov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister for Asia-Pacific affairs, in Moscow. Most recently, however, Sin met with Mikhail Bogdanov, who is in charge of Moscow’s ties with states across Africa and the Middle East.
Why would Sin meet with somebody in Bogdanov’s position? Maybe Morgulov’s schedule was packed, but it’s hard to believe there is anything so urgent that another diplomat of the same rank would have to meet with Sin in Morgulov’s stead. As talk grows of a burgeoning North Korea-Russia axis as part of a rising illiberalism, it is possible the meeting heralds increased cooperation over how their shared illiberal values could be put to work in regions outside of Eastern Europe or Northeast Asia.
Russia and the DPRK discussed leveraging new opportunities for cooperation[1]
On September 19, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s press office reported that Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, discussed the use of new opportunities for the development of relations arising in relation to the evolving geopolitical situation and epidemiological circumstances with the DPRK’s ambassador in Moscow Sin Hong Chol.
The Ministry stated that the two sides engaged in a “thorough exchange of opinions” regarding the development of “traditionally friendly relations” between Russia and North Korea. The two sides unanimously agreed to leverage new opportunities “for bilateral, multidimensional cooperation in terms of the changing geopolitical and epidemiological situation.”
Earlier it was reported that the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin is working with the DPRK on dispatching North Korean construction workers to help rebuild the Donbas.
Translated by Anthony V. Rinna
[1]Source: Russia and the DPRK discussed leveraging new opportunities for cooperation [Россия и КНДР обсудили использование новых возможностей для сотрудничества], Krasnaya Vesna, September 21, 2022, https://rossaprimavera.ru/news/271abfea
