North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui will visit Russia from Monday to Wednesday.

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui will visit Russia from January 15 to 17," Chinese news agency CGTN reported.

The visit will take place at the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and amid reports that Russia has begun using missiles received from the DPRK in the war against Ukraine.

On 11 January, Andrii Kostin, Ukraine's Prosecutor General, reported that early assessments confirmed that Russia had used missiles from North Korea during one of the recent attacks on Ukraine.

On Thursday, 11 January, the US State Department imposed sanctions on three Russian companies and one individual involved in transferring and testing North Korean ballistic missiles.

In October, the White House announced that the regime of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un had provided 1,000 containers of military equipment and ammunition to Russia.

South Korea's military intelligence estimated that the DPRK had provided Russia with over a million artillery shells for use in the war against Ukraine.