Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi discussed the Ukraine crisis with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister in Beijing on Wednesday (October 30, 2024), the Foreign Ministry said, as Western leaders have condemned Moscow’s deepening ties with North Korea.

Mr. Wang told Andrey Rudenko that China’s relationship with Russia was “inevitable” and “strong”, adding it was “not affected by the changing international situation, and is not directed at or affected by third parties”, according to a statement.

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Tensions have escalated in recent weeks as the United States and South Korea have slammed the apparent presence of North Korean troops in Russia.

And Wednesday’s meeting between Wang and Rudenko came as North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui was due to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

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South Korea, NATO and the United States claim thousands of North Korean troops are training in Russia — which Moscow and Pyongyang deny.

The first batch of elite forces left for eastern Russia’s Vladivostok in early October, according to Seoul’s spy agency.

The roughly 10,000 North Korean soldiers sent to train “will probably augment Russian forces near Ukraine over the next several weeks,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists this week.

While Pyongyang denies its troops are training in Russia, North Korea’s Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Jong Gyu said that were such a deployment to happen, it would be in line with international law.

China considers both Russia and North Korea its close partners.

The U.S. government has expressed with China its concerns over Pyongyang’s deepening military engagement.

When asked about talks with Washington during a regular news conference Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

The Foreign Ministry also declined to confirm whether Mr. Wang raised the issue of North Korean troops in Russia with Rudenko when they met.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

South Korea will gradually take countermeasures in line with the level of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, Deputy National Security Advisor Kim Tae-hyo told a briefing on Tuesday, October 22, 2024.

The comments as quoted by Reuters came as South Korea’s Presidential office urged Pyongyang to immediately withdraw North Korean troops that Seoul says have been dispatched to Russia for the war with Ukraine.

Also Read: What’s behind the Russia-North Korea security pact? | Explained

Meanwhile, North Korea has not sent troops to Russia to help Moscow fight Ukraine, one of its United Nations representatives said Monday, dismissing Seoul’s claims as “groundless rumour”.

Meanwhile, North Korea said that the claims made by Seoul are just “groundless rumour”.

“As for the so-called military cooperation with Russia, my delegation does not feel any need for comment on such groundless stereotyped rumors,” a North Korean representative said at a committee meeting during the UN General Assembly.

(With Inputs from AFP)