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Who joined Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang in July 2023?
Summary
A look back at a Pyongyang anniversary event that brought Russian and Chinese delegations together, and at US sanctions announced days earlier.
Who stood beside Kim Jong-un as North Korea marked the 70th anniversary of the cessation of hostilities in the Korean War? On 27 July 2023, the answer was Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu and a Chinese delegation, who met the North Korean Supreme Leader in Pyongyang to celebrate the occasion.
Kim and Shoigu also attended an exhibition of North Korean ballistic missiles. Those missiles have been prohibited by multiple United Nations resolutions, which both China and Russia had endorsed.
Sanctions days earlier
Three days before, on 24 July 2023, the United States announced sanctions on three senior Malian officials, among them Defence Minister Sadio Camara. Washington said they had been "helping to facilitate" the presence of the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group in Mali.
The two reports concern different regions, but both involved Russian defence ties with states under international scrutiny in the closing days of July 2023.
