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North Korea’s Foreign Minister Leaves for Russia, Embassy in Pyongyang Says

A flag hoisting ceremony is held during a celebration meeting and evening gala on the occasion of the 76th founding anniversary of North Korea at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on September 8, 2024. (AFP)
A flag hoisting ceremony is held during a celebration meeting and evening gala on the occasion of the 76th founding anniversary of North Korea at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on September 8, 2024. (AFP)
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North Korea’s Foreign Minister Leaves for Russia, Embassy in Pyongyang Says

A flag hoisting ceremony is held during a celebration meeting and evening gala on the occasion of the 76th founding anniversary of North Korea at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on September 8, 2024. (AFP)
A flag hoisting ceremony is held during a celebration meeting and evening gala on the occasion of the 76th founding anniversary of North Korea at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on September 8, 2024. (AFP)

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui has flown to Russia to attend the fourth Eurasian Women's Forum and the BRICS Women's Forum in Saint Petersburg, Russia's embassy in North Korea said on Monday.

"Russian Ambassador (Alexander Ivanovich) Matsegora saw off North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui at the Pyongyang International Airport," the embassy said in a post on its Vkontakte social network.

The embassy said that the minister's speeches and participation in discussions are planned at the forum, which will take place Sept. 18 to 20.

Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, said in June that delegations from almost a hundred countries were expected at the forum.

"We will strive to ensure a record foreign representation in the entire history of the Forum," Matviyenko said in June, according to a transcript provided on the Council's website.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has attended previous meetings of the forum, but the Kremlin is yet to announce his participation in this year's forum.

Warming ties between the countries reached a new high this year when Putin signed a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that included a mutual defense pledge during a visit to Pyongyang.

The United States and its allies have accused North Korea of helping Russia by supplying weapons for its war in Ukraine in return for economic and other military assistance. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied this.

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Russia Condemns ‘Irresponsible’ Talk of Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Russia Condemns ‘Irresponsible’ Talk of Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Discussion in the West about arming Ukraine with nuclear weapons is "absolutely irresponsible", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, in response to a report in the New York Times citing unidentified officials who suggested such a possibility.

The New York Times reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office.

"Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union. That would be an instant and enormous deterrent. But such a step would be complicated and have serious implications," the newspaper wrote.

Asked about the report, Peskov told reporters: "These are absolutely irresponsible arguments of people who have a poor understanding of reality and who do not feel a shred of responsibility when making such statements. We also note that all of these statements are anonymous."

Earlier, senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said that if the West supplied nuclear weapons to Ukraine then Moscow could consider such a transfer to be tantamount to an attack on Russia, providing grounds for a nuclear response.

Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its 1991 collapse, but gave them up under a 1994 agreement, the Budapest Memorandum, in return for security assurances from Russia, the United States and Britain.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last month that as Ukraine had handed over the nuclear weapons, joining NATO was the only way it could deter Russia.

The 33-month Russia-Ukraine war saw escalations on both sides last week, after Ukraine fired US and British missiles into Russia for the first time, with permission from the West, and Moscow responded by launching a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile into Ukraine.

Asked about the risk of a nuclear escalation, Peskov said the West should "listen carefully" to Putin and read Russia's newly updated nuclear doctrine, which lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

Separately, Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said Moscow opposes simply freezing the conflict in Ukraine because it needs a "solid and long-term peace" that resolves the core reasons for the crisis.