PYONGYANG, November 18. /TASS/. Russia and North Korea have signed two interstate agreements — an agreement on legal assistance on criminal cases and on extradition, as the Russian justice minister is on a visit to Pyongyang.
These documents are part of a "standard package of bilateral agreements that the Russian Justice Ministry signs with different countries," Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov told TASS.
Russia always "applies them in strict compliance with rules of international law and its own policy, based on its commitments to the Council of Europe and the United Nations, within the context of Russia’s existence in the international political community," the minister said.
He said a draft agreement between Russia and North Korea on the transfer of convicts was under way. There have been no such exchanges between the two countries, he said.
On the whole, Russia "seeks to sign packages of these standard agreements with all countries, including the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, with an aim to strengthen trust, create certain legal guarantees for the present and future, develop ties in the economic, as well as in humanitarian and social spheres," said the minister.
The minister, who arrived in North Korea on Tuesday, put flowers on Wednesday to statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, and paid tribute to the memory of Soviet soldiers at the Liberation Monument in Pyongyang.
The inscription on the monument reads "Eternal glory to the great Soviet Army that liberated the Korean people from the yoke of Japanese militarists and opening doors to its freedom and independence!".