Star Metro - N. Korea to send army builders, deminers to Russia's Kursk

Sergei Shoigu, head of Russia's Security Council, was in Pyongyang for the second time this month for talks with leader Kim Jong Un on the one-year anniversary of the signing of a sweeping military deal between the two countries, state media from both countries reported.

North Korea has become one of Russia's main allies during its more than three-year-long Ukraine offensive, sending thousands of troops and container loads of weapons to help the Kremlin oust Ukrainian forces from Kursk.

Now, Pyongyang is going to dispatch more specialist military forces to help with reconstruction efforts, with both sides reaching a deal "on continuing constructive cooperation", the TASS news agency quoted Shoigu as saying.

North Korea will send "a division of builders, two military brigades -- 5,000 people" as well as 1,000 deminers to the Kursk region, Shoigu said.

"This is a kind of fraternal assistance from the Korean people and leader Kim Jong Un to our country," he was quoted as saying.

Russia and North Korea signed the military deal last year, including a mutual defence clause, during a rare visit by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the nuclear-armed North.

Around 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting for Russia, according to South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun, citing the country's intelligence service.

Pyongyang in April confirmed for the first time that it had deployed troops to support Russia's war in Ukraine -- and admitted that its troops had been killed in combat.

North Korean state media said Kim had confirmed plans for further cooperation but did not provide details.

Kim and Shoigu discussed "items of immediate cooperation" as well as "long-term plans" to carry out "important matters agreed by the heads of states of the two countries through the exchanges of personal letters for several weeks," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Kim also expressed North Korea's "steadfast" will to "invariably and unconditionally support" Russia's policy to defend its "state sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Plans to honour North Korean soldiers who died "in the operations for liberating the Kursk area" were also discussed, KCNA said.

- 'Issue of concern' -

Seoul's foreign ministry on Wednesday said the "acceptance and employment of North Korean overseas workers constitute a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions".

"The South Korean government expresses serious concern over the continued illicit cooperation between Russia and North Korea and urges an immediate halt to such activities," it said in a statement sent to AFP.

New South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who took office this month following a snap election triggered by his predecessor's disastrous martial law bid in December, has pledged a more conciliatory approach toward Pyongyang.

Lee's administration recently halted the loudspeaker broadcasts the country had resumed last year in response to a wave of trash-laden balloons sent by Pyongyang.

In turn, North Korea has stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had been a major nuisance for residents in the area.

"The mention of building infrastructure to expand various exchanges and cooperation appears intended to emphasise the possibility of increased interaction" between Russia and North Korea, Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP.

Hong said railway links along the North Korea-Russia border are currently being restored, with the possible launch of air routes also under consideration.

D.Ch. Nadeau--SMC