North Korea’s foreign minister met with her Russian counterpart in Moscow on Friday and assured him that Pyongyang would support Russia until the country achieved its goal. “victory” in the war against Ukraine.

The meeting between the two foreign ministers comes amid Western reports that North Korea has sent thousands of troops to Russia, possibly for further deployment on the battlefield in Ukraine.

“We reiterate that we will always firmly support our Russian comrades until the day of victory,” North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui told Sergei Lavrov during the televised talks, according to a Russian translation.

“We have no doubt whatsoever that under the wise leadership of the honorable Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian army and the Russian people will certainly achieve a great victory in their holy struggle to defend the sovereign rights and security of their state,” it added. them to it.

Lavrov praised the close ties between the two countries’ armies and special services.

“This will also make it possible to achieve important security goals for our citizens and yours,” he said, adding that Moscow was “very grateful to our Korean friends for their principled stand on the events that unfolded in Ukraine.”

During the meeting, neither of the two foreign ministers mentioned Western reports of North Korean troop deployments in Russia. Previously, Lavrov and Choe unveiled a memorial plaque honoring North Korea’s Kim Il-Sung’s visit to the USSR in 1949.

Washington said Thursday it has received information indicating that about 8,000 North Korean troops are stationed in the Kursk region, which was attacked by Ukrainian forces in a surprise ground incursion in early August.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the inaction of his Western allies on the deployment of North Korean troops in a speech to South Korean media this week.