Govt to send workers to Russia

North Korea is sending thousands of construction workers to help rebuild a war-torn Russian border region, a Russian official said, as the Kremlin boasted of new steps in the deepening partnership between the two countries.

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Sergei Shoigu, a close aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, met with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, in Pyongyang on Tuesday. It was his third visit to the North Korean capital since March.

Afterwards, he told reporters that Mr Kim had agreed to send 5,000 construction workers and 1,000 sappers — combat engineers — to Russia's Kursk region. That is where North Korean troops fought alongside Russian forces in the winter and spring to push Ukrainian soldiers out of several hundred square miles of Russian territory. The sappers, he said, will work on demining the region.