North Korean high-level agricultural delegation visits Russia amid food shortages – Firstpost

North Korea’s official news agency KCNA reported on Sunday that a group led by a senior agriculture official is visiting Russia. This is the latest communication between Moscow and Pyongyang, which is struggling with persistent food shortages.

Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet Ri Chol Man, leader of a group from the Agriculture Commission, left for Russia on Saturday, according to KCNA. In a Facebook post, Alexander Matsegora, Russia’s ambassador to North Korea, said Ri’s itinerary will be “very tough.”

Following North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s summit with President Vladimir Putin in September and his trip to Russia’s far east, ties between the two nations have improved significantly.

Kim devoted a significant part of his speech at the ruling Workers’ Party’s key policy meeting in December to the need to increase agricultural production, advocating modernization of farm machinery and an improved irrigation system.

While he praised the results of efforts to increase agricultural production, North Korea has long faced food shortages, partly due to long-standing UN restrictions on its nuclear development and cyclical natural disasters.

Ri, who is classified by the South Korean government database as a professional technocrat in the agricultural sector, was elected head of the Agriculture Commission at the Workers’ Party meeting.

The two countries have exchanged a number of delegations since their leaders’ meeting in September, with the frequency increasing in recent months, according to North Korean state media.

U.S. and South Korean officials have expressed concern that the focus of the closer cooperation is military, accusing the North of shipping weapons to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine.

Both Moscow and Pyongyang have denied the allegations, even as their leaders have pledged to deepen military cooperation.

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