N. Korea's Jo Yong-won heads to Russia after Kim Jong-un's China visit

A North Korean party and government delegation led by Workers' Party Central Committee Secretary Jo Yong-won has arrived in Russia.

According to KCNA, the delegation departed Pyongyang by private jet Saturday and arrived in Moscow.

KCNA said the visit came "as the fighting friendship, amity and alliance between the two countries of Korea and Russia, which share independence and justice as a common ideology, are being further consolidated day by day," and that the delegation was traveling at the invitation of Dmitry Medvedev, chairman of the Russian political party United Russia.

Members of the Workers' Party Central Committee Political Bureau — including Choe Son-hui, Ju Chang-il, Sin Yong-il, Jong Kyong-thaek, Kim Song-nam, Yu Kwang-u and Kim Tok-hun — as well as Andrei Leonidovich Podyolishev, Russia's ambassador to North Korea, saw the delegation off at Pyongyang International Airport.

At a Moscow airport, the delegation was received by Andrei Klimov, a member of United Russia's Supreme Council and first deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma's Committee on International Affairs, along with Sin Hong-chol, North Korea's ambassador to Russia.

KCNA did not disclose the delegation's itinerary or the length of its stay.

Japan's Kyodo News reported Saturday on Jo's visit to Russia, saying the trip was expected to reaffirm the two countries' commitment to strengthening bilateral ties through talks with Medvedev.

North Korea and Russia have grown increasingly close — described as a "blood alliance" — following the signing of a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty in 2024 and Pyongyang's deployment of troops to the war in Ukraine. People-to-people exchanges between the two countries have expanded noticeably of late.

Against that backdrop, the visit by Jo — widely regarded as one of Kim Jong-un's closest aides — is expected to further deepen cooperation at the senior party level.

The trip is drawing particular attention as it comes ahead of a trilateral summit among the United States, China and Russia on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China.

Jo is regarded as one of the officials closest to Kim Jong-un. He accompanied Kim on a day trip to China via the new Yalu River Bridge on Oct. 24.