North Korea and Russia earlier in March held the 9th Intergovernmental Committee (IGC) for Cooperation in Trade, Economics, Science, and Technology in Moscow. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

North Korea is strengthening its strategic relations with Russia, while denuclearization talks with the U.S. have been stalled without progress for three weeks since the Hanoi summit.

In a meeting between North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Im Chon-il and his Russian counterpart Igor Morgulov in Moscow on March 14, the two sides agreed to "bolster up mutual support and collaboration in tackling the issue of the Korean peninsula," the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Sunday.

This is to steadily develop the traditional and strategic North Korea-Russia relations, this year marking the 70th anniversary of the conclusion of the two sides' agreement on economic and cultural cooperation, KCNA added.