Russian President Vladimir Putin met North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui at the Kremlin on Sunday, July 19, 2026.
Russia's Tass said Putin praised the countries' bilateral relations and reiterated his "gratitude to the North Korean leadership and people" for supporting his military operations against Ukraine.
Tass said Choe told Putin that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un remains committed to the "comprehensive development" of relations with Russia.
The visit by Choe comes without an obvious occasion and has raised speculation that she may be coordinating a possible visit to Russia by Kim, and North Korean state media said Choe departed for Russia on Saturday at the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov but had yet to comment on the purpose of her visit.
Yoon Min Ho, spokesperson for South Korea's Unification Ministry, said Monday that Seoul was closely monitoring the meetings but declined to assess whether Moscow and Pyongyang were discussing another summit between their leaders.
Kim traveled to Russia's Far East for summits with Putin in 2019 and 2023, and Putin invited Kim to visit Russia again during their summit in Pyongyang in June 2024, where the leaders signed a strategic partnership agreement pledging mutual aid if either country faces aggression.
Kim in recent years has made Russia the priority of his foreign policy, sending thousands of troops and huge supplies of weapons to support Putin's war in Ukraine, possibly in exchange for economic aid and technology transfers that some experts say are helping advance North Korea's military capabilities.
Choe's visit to Moscow came shortly after North Korea and China exchanged high-level visits, with North Korean Cabinet premier Pak Thae Song meeting Xi Jinping in Beijing and Wang Huning, a member of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee, visiting Kim in Pyongyang this month.
Kim has suspended all meaningful dialogue with the United States and South Korea since the collapse of his nuclear diplomacy with U.S. President Donald Trump in 2019, and he has used Russia's war on Ukraine as a distraction to accelerate the advancement of his nuclear weapons and missile program while demanding that Washington abandon its calls for North Korea's nuclear disarmament as a precondition for talks.