Russia’s Defence Minister has given an offer to North Korean governer Kim Jong Un that their nations hold a naval exercise, along with China, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Monday, understanding South Korea’s intelligence agency. Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu went to North Korea for the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, being recognized as a celebration in North Korea as Victory Day, in July when he saw Mr Kim.
They went to a defence exhibition featuring the North’s banned ballistic missiles, North Korean state media reported at that time. Yonhap reported that Mr Shoigu had offered a three-way naval activity to Mr Kim whilst his visit, but it gave no in depth details. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told the National Assembly that Mr Shoigu seemed to have held a private meeting with Mr Kim to agree on broad military expansion, Yonhap reported. Russia and North Korea have sometime ago called for closer military collaboration but North Korea has rejected having any “arms dealings” with Russia.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told a press briefing in August that Mr Shoigu had attempted on his visit to North Korea to sell artillery ammunition to Russia. The United States recently enforced sanctions on three entities it criticised of being tied to arms deals between North Korea and Russia. North Korea has brought six nuclear tests since 2006 and had been testing several missiles over latest years but it rarely has military exercises with its adjacent nations.