SEOUL, February 26. /TASS/. A delegation of the Central Committee of the North Korean Socialist Patriotic Youth League headed by its chairman, Mun Chol, has left for Russia to take part in the World Youth Festival, the Russian embassy in Pyongyang said.

Russian Ambassador Alexander Matsegora accompanied the delegation to the North Korean capital's international airport on February 26. During the visit, the sides plan to hold negotiations to expand contacts between youth organizations of the two countries. The World Youth Festival will be held in the federal territory of Sirius on March 1-7, 2024 in accordance with a decree issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin on developing international youth cooperation.

In addition, the embassy reported that a youth team of the "April 25" women's volleyball club left Pyongyang for Vladivostok on February 26 at the invitation of Primorsky Region Governor Oleg Kozhemyako. The athletes will hold a series of friendly matches and joint training camps with Russian teams.

In the second half of 2023, bilateral exchanges between Russia and North Korea were revived. In September, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia. In October, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Pyongyang. On November 15, North Korea hosted the tenth meeting of the Russia-North Korea intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation.

In February 2024, a delegation from the Workers' Party of Korea traveled to Moscow for a forum of supporters of the struggle against modern practices of neocolonialism. Also that month, North Korean agricultural technicians visited Russia.