North Korea delegation visits Laos; both countries to work on improving defensive caspabilities

SEOUL (Bernama-Yonhap): A North Korean delegation led by a senior official visited Laos and stressed the North's policy of bolstering defence capabilities, Yonhap News Agency reported citing the North's state media, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sunday.

Kim Song Nam, director of the international department at the North's ruling Workers' Party of Korea, met Thongsavanh Phomvihane, head of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party's external relations committee, last Friday, according to the report.

Laos is the final leg of Kim's three-nation trip that also took him to China and Vietnam.

Kim also paid a courtesy visit to Thongloun Sisoulith, the secretary general of the Communist Party of Laos.

In an English-language dispatch, the KCNA said the North Korean official conveyed a "verbal letter" from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to Sisoulith.

Laos is scheduled to host an annual regional security meeting, the ASEAN Regional Forum, later this year.

North Korea has not sent its foreign minister to the forum since 2019, and the North's delegation's visit to Laos raised speculation on whether the North's top diplomat, Choi Son Hui would attend the forum this year. - Bernama-Yonhap