Gen. O Kum Chol Meets with Russian Armed Forces Delegation

Gen. O Kum Chol (O Kum-ch’o’l), Vice Chief of the Korean People’s Army [KPA] General Staff, held a meeting and negotiations with a visiting delegation of the Russian Armed Forces in Pyongyang on November 11 (Wednesday). Gen. O met with 1st Vice Chief of the Russian General Staff Col. Gen. Nikolai Bogdanovski, head of the delegation, and Alexei Nikolaevich Bartusov, Russia’s defense attache in the DPRK. According to KCNA, “both sides exchanged views on the issue of developing the traditional friendly relations between the armies of the two countries and issues of mutual concern.” After the meeting, the KPA General Staff also hosted a reception “in honor” of the delegation’s visit.

On November 12 (Thursday) Col. Gen. Bogdanovski and the Russian delegation met again with Gen. O Kum Chol and senior KPA officials. Also in attendance was Russian Ambassador to the DPRK Alexander Ivanovich Matsegora. Gen. O and Col. Gen. Bogdanovski signed an agreement on, according to ITAR-TASS, “the prevention of dangerous military activities” that had been pre-approved by the Russian government had been the topic of discussion in June of this year when Choe T’ae Bok (Supreme People’s Assembly Chairman and Workers’ Party of Korea Secretary) visited Moscow. The Russian government had hoped the DPRK would sign the agreement before the end of 2015.