P`yang, Moscow sign military pacts

North Korea and Russia Friday signed two agreements--one for cooperation in the munitions industry and strengthening North Korea`s military equipment and another for military cooperation in 2001.

North Korea`s minister of the people`s armed forces, Kim Il-Chul, held talks with Russian vice premier Ilya Clevanov, who is in charge of the defense industry, and defense minister Sergei Ivanov in Moscow and agreed to sign the two pacts. Kim returned to Pyongyang Saturday.

The vice premier said that the defense industry accord calls for modernizing the equipment given to North Korea decades ago, but it should not undermine relations with South Korea. The defense minister added that president Vladimir Putin`s visit to Pyongyang last year provided fresh momentum in strengthening Russo-North Korean ties, and the collaboration and dialogue between the two was based on a new type of good-neighborliness.

Kim Ki-Hyun kimkihy@donga.com