Russian delegation visits North Korea to boost economic cooperation amid nuclear talks

Pyongyang [North Korea] Mar 20 (ANI): A delegation from Russia held meetings with North Korea officials on Monday to discuss the economic cooperation between the two countries.
Russia’s TASS news agency reported that a group of Russian Ministers, who came on a six-day visit headed by Oleg Melnichenko, met with a vice-ministerial-level official from the North's Ministry of External Economic Relations to discuss economic cooperation projects that could be advanced without violating the U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea.
The meeting comes amid reports that the United States and North Korea are attempting to get the "sequencing" right in negotiations to dismantle the communist country's nuclear weapon programme and open a new future for Pyongyang,
Yonhap news agency cited a North Korean newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, saying that in the view to celebrate the anniversary of an agreement between the two communist countries, North Korea’s relations with Russia "fully conform to the mutual desire and interests."
"The two countries have a shared aim of opposing foreign interference and pressure and defending their sovereignties," the North Korean daily opined.
Meanwhile, Han Man-hyok, vice department director of the Central Committee of the North's ruling Workers' Party also made a visit to Russia to attend a photo exhibition which was organized to mark the 70th anniversary of late North Korean founder Kim Il-sung's official state visit to Moscow earlier this month.
The bilateral ties between Russia and North Korea have come after Pyongyang’s relations with Washington struck a stalemate last month when President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un walked off the table without reaching a consensus over the issue of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Pyongyang wanted the sanctions to be lifted in their entirety which could not be done.
North Korea, however, contradicted this with the country’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho saying that they had made realistic proposals and asked for a partial lifting of sanctions. Following this, North had threatened the US of suspending all channels of communication and even restart its missile tests. (ANI)