MOSCOW: Talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui began in Moscow Friday amid fears that Pyongyang’s troops will be used in the Ukraine conflict.

Neither Moscow or Pyongyang have denied Western allegations that thousands of North Korean troops are in Russia.

“The meeting began at (Moscow’s) Yaroslavsky railway station,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, adding that talks will continue at Russia’s foreign ministry.

She published photographs of Lavrov with Son Hui, who held a bouquet of flowers, at the railway station.

Zakharova said the pair unveiled a memorial plaque in honour of North Korea’s Kim Il-Sung’s visit to the USSR in 1949.

The US has said that 8,000 North Korean soldiers are training in Russia and could be deployed to fight in Ukraine.

Russia’s Lavrov to visit EU first time since the start of Ukraine war, Vedomosti reports

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking to South Korean media, denounced what he called inaction by his allies on the North Korean troop deployment.

Russia has sought to deepen its relations with North Korea since sending troops to Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin signed a mutual assistance pact with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un when he visited Pyongyang this summer.