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North's top diplomat agrees with Belarusian foreign minister to jointly safeguard mutual interests

Published: 31 Oct. 2025, 11:30

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui departs Pyongyang on Oct. 26, for a trip to Russia and Belarus, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency the following day [KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY]

North Korea's Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui has held talks with her Belarusian counterpart in Minsk and agreed to step up joint efforts to safeguard their mutual interests on the international stage, the North's state media reported Friday.

The meeting between Choe and Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov took place Wednesday, where they discussed developing North Korea-Belarus relations based on the principles of sovereignty, equality and reciprocity in a way that meets the mutual interests of the two countries' peoples, the statement said.

They also discussed strengthening efforts to safeguard mutual interests on the international stage and reached a consensus, the statement said.

The meeting came nearly two months after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Beijing on the occasion of a Chinese military parade on Sept. 3, where Kim requested that the Belarusian president visit North Korea.

Belarus is one of the few countries, along with North Korea, that has supported Russia's war on Ukraine. The two countries have recently shown signs of strengthening ties.

The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) separately reported on a speech delivered by Choe recently at the Third Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security, held in the Belarusian capital.

Choe claimed that the trilateral South Korea-U.S.-Japan "military alliance system" is posing a grave threat to the security environment of the eastern Eurasian region.

Frequent bilateral and multilateral "war exercises" targeting North Korea have taken place in recent years, including a scenario involving the use of nuclear weapons, she also claimed, adding that North Korea will not falter or compromise on its path to safeguard its security and strengthen its self-defensive national military capabilities.

Yonhap