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North Korea Leader Kim Discusses Military Cooperation with Russian Official

This picture taken on July 18, 2024 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on July 19 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) meeting with Russia's Vice Minister of Defense Aleksey Krivoruchko at the headquarters building of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on July 18, 2024 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on July 19 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) meeting with Russia's Vice Minister of Defense Aleksey Krivoruchko at the headquarters building of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
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North Korea Leader Kim Discusses Military Cooperation with Russian Official

This picture taken on July 18, 2024 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on July 19 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) meeting with Russia's Vice Minister of Defense Aleksey Krivoruchko at the headquarters building of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on July 18, 2024 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on July 19 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) meeting with Russia's Vice Minister of Defense Aleksey Krivoruchko at the headquarters building of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un received Russian vice minister of defense Aleksey Krivoruchko and discussed the importance of the two countries' militaries to unite more firmly to defend world peace and justice, KCNA news agency said on Friday.
Kim and Krivoruchko shared the need for military cooperation between the two countries to defend mutual security interests, KCNA said.
Krivoruchko conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Kim, who expressed deep thanks in the meeting, held on Thursday.
The report did not provide any other details of Krivoruchko's delegation or the purpose of the visit to North Korea, said Reuters.
North Korea and Russia have deepened military cooperation since their leaders held a summit in the Russian Far East last year and signed a treaty on strategic partnership that includes a mutual defense agreement struck in June when Putin visited Pyongyang.
The two countries have been accused of conducting arms trade by Seoul and Washington to help Russia's stock of missiles and artillery for its war with Ukraine. The two countries deny such trade.

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Biden, Trump Security Advisers Meet to Pass Ceremonial Baton

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)
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Biden, Trump Security Advisers Meet to Pass Ceremonial Baton

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)

Top advisers to US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump put aside their differences - mostly - for a symbolic "passing of the torch" event focused on national security issues on Tuesday.

Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan passed a ceremonial baton to US Congressman Mike Waltz, Trump's pick for the same job, in a revival of a Washington ritual organized by the nonpartisan United States Institute of Peace since 2001.

The two men are normally in the media defending their bosses' opposing views on Ukraine, the Middle East and China.

On Tuesday, Waltz and Sullivan politely searched for common ground on a panel designed to project the continuity of power in the United States.

"It's like a very strange, slightly awkward version of 'The Dating Game,' you know the old game where you wrote down your answer, and that person wrote down their answer, and you see how much they match up," said Sullivan.

The event offered a preview of what may be in store on Monday when Trump is inaugurated as president. This peaceful transfer of power, a hallmark of more than two centuries of American democracy, comes four years after Trump disputed and never conceded his loss in the 2020 election.

This time the two sides are talking. Sullivan, at Biden's request, has briefed Waltz privately, at length, on the current administration's policy around the world even as the Trump aide has regularly said the new team will depart radically from it.

Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Biden's envoy Brett McGurk are working together this week to close a ceasefire deal in the region for hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Asked about the key challenges facing the new administration, Waltz and Sullivan on Tuesday both pointed to the California wildfires and China.

Sullivan also highlighted a hostage deal and artificial intelligence as key issues.

Waltz pointed to the US border with Mexico, an area where Trump has ripped Biden's approach.

But he credited the Biden administration with deepening ties between US allies in Asia.

For all the bonhomie between the two men, and the talk of the prospects for peace in the Middle East, Waltz painted a picture of the grimmer decisions awaiting him in his new job.

"Evil does exist," he said. "Sometimes you just have to put bombs on foreheads."