Russia Signs Deal to Upgrade North Korea's Weapons

Russia Signs Deal to Upgrade North Korea's Weapons


Updated 1:27 PM ET April 27, 2001
full imageRussian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, Left, and North... (AP)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia signed an agreement with North Korea on Friday to upgrade weapons supplied to the isolated communist state during the Soviet era, the RIA news agency said.
Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who signed the deal for Russia, told RIA he did not expect the agreement to harm Moscow's relations with South Korea, which is still technically at war with North Korea.
"Russia's main aim is successful negotiations between North and South Korea," RIA quoted him as saying.
The deal, officially called a "framework agreement" on cooperation in the defense industry and military


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equipment, was the focal point of a closely watched visit to Russia by North Korean Defense Minister Kim Il-chol.
Kim arrived in Moscow on Thursday, but no details of his visit have been disclosed.
Moscow was Pyongyang's close ally during the 1950-53 war between the communist North and the U.N.-backed South which entrenched the partition of the country and led to half a century of hostility on the Korean peninsula.
North Korea is one of several countries viewed by the United States as "rogue states" and a source of possible missile strikes.
It began to emerge from isolation last June with a historic summit between the presidents of the two Koreas in Pyongyang. But 37,000 U.S. troops remain deployed in the south.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea shortly after the summit and invited its reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il, to visit Russia in 2001. The two sides have said preparations for the visit are under way.