Kim Jong-un shows off nuclear missiles to Russia’s defence minister and Chinese delegation

Impressed with what he saw, Shoigu hailed North Korea as the “most powerful military in the world” and pledged ambitions to forge closer ties over a nuclear regime.

The delegations met in Pyongyang to mark 70 years since a truce was signed that put a pause to the 1950-53 Korean War, a day known in North Korea as Victory Day.

To celebrate the armistice, the delegates marvelled at cutting edge military technology and the Russian defence minister indicated that military ties with Pynogyang would be strengthened.

In a statement released by the Russian defence ministry via Telegram and quoted by NK News, Shoigu said: “I am convinced that today’s talks will help strengthen cooperation between our defence agencies.

“For Russia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is an important partner, with which we share a common border and a rich history of cooperation.”

These expressions of solidarity and cooperation counter overt US efforts to bolster trilateral security relations with Seoul and Tokyo, which seeks to loosen Beijing’s grip on the Indo-Pacific.

Ankit Panda of the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said: “We’ve come a long way from when North Korea would avoid showing off its nuclear capabilities when senior foreign dignitaries from Russia and China were in town.”

Kim Jong-un presented himself as a confident statesman, as he lifted stringent Covid-19 border controls to host delegates that included senior Chinese politician, Li Hongzhong.

Despite ongoing economic woes caused by US-led sanctions against North Korea’s weapons programme, Russia and China’s geopolitical jostling has granted Kim newfound importance as an arms dealer.

Russia has been buying millions of artillery shells and rockets, according to US intelligence reports last year.

A red banner emblazoned with a welcome to the ‘Comrade Defence Minister’ greeted Shoigu as he touched down in Pyongyang airport on Tuesday night.

Anthony Rinna, specialist in Korea-Russia relations at the Sino-NK think tank, said: “While Russia has kept its official military cooperation with the North Korea limited, any veritable rupture in the so-called post-Cold War order may see Russia more willing to openly violate sanctions, especially given their relatively lax attitude to the shifts in North Korea’s nuclear status last year.”

White House national security spokesman, John Kirby, said: “It’s been no secret… Mr Putin is reaching out to other countries for help and support in fighting his war in Ukraine.”

Shoigu is said to have given Kim a letter from Vladimir Putin, North Korean media reported.

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Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said: “(Kim) expressed his views on the issues of mutual concern in the struggle to safeguard the sovereignty, development and interests of the two countries from the high-handed and arbitrary practices of the imperialists and to realise international justice and peace.”

It added: “He repeatedly expressed belief that the Russian army and people would achieve big successes in the struggle for building a powerful country.”

North Korean feathers have been ruffled recently by US-South Korean military drills and the docking of an American nuclear-armed submarine on North Korea’s doorstep for the first time in forty years.

In South Korea, the occasion was marked with a more sombre affair, with the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, inviting dozens of foreign war veterans including a British delegation.