North Korea’s vice sports minister has left for Russia to attend an international sports meeting, state media reported Friday, after the leaders of North Korea and Russia signed a treaty to expand cooperation.
A delegation, headed by Vice Sports Minister Kim Yong-gwon, departed for Russia the previous day to take part in a so-called BRICS Plus meeting of sports ministers in Kazan, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
Russia, which assumed the rotating chairmanship of BRICS for this year, is hosting the BRICS Games, a multisports competition, in Kazan from June 12-23. North Korea appears to have been invited to the meeting to be held on the sidelines of the sports event.
BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — decided to accept six new members — Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — to increase its sphere of influence at the summit in Johannesburg in 2023.
In February, Russia invited North Korean athletes to take part in the BRICS Games w
hen the two nations signed a protocol on sports exchanges.
After summit talks in Pyongyang on Wednesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a partnership treaty that calls for the two nations to offer military assistance without delay in the event of aggression against either side.
The two leaders also agreed to boost exchanges and cooperation in agriculture, education, public health, sports, culture and tourism.
Source: Yonhap News Agency