MILITARY DISPLAYSImages from Russia's defence ministry and North Korean media showed Shoigu being greeted by North Korean defence minister Kang Sun Nam and Russian ambassador Alexander Matsegora at the airport, and rows of North Korean and Russia troops.
The only defence treaty China and North Korea have is with each other.
Amid international sanctions over North Korea's missile and nuclear programmes - which both Moscow and Beijing voted to impose - China has become by far North Korea's largest trading partner.
Russia and China have rebuffed recent attempts by the United States and some European countries to impose new sanctions on North Korea.
"If North Korea also sends a high-level delegation to China for the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games, it means the resumption of high-level 'shuttle diplomacy' between North Korea and China since the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.
Persons:
Sergei Shoigu, Li Hongzhong, Anthony Rinna, Travis King, Rinna, Shoigu, Kang Sun Nam, Alexander Matsegora, Wagner, Kim, Yang Moo, Dave Schmerler, James Martin, Schmerler, Kim Jong Un, KCNA, denuclearisation, Yang, Josh Smith, Michael Perry
Organizations:
Korean People's Army, North, Korean Central News Agency, KCNA, Russian, Communist Party, United Nations Security Council, Washington, U.S, Sino, NK, United, University of North Korean Studies, James, James Martin Center, Nonproliferation Studies, Reuters, Fatherland, Thomson
Locations:
Pyongyang, North Korea, China, U.S, SEOUL, United States, Russia, Beijing, Moscow, Korea, North Korean, Washington, Russian, Korean, Ukraine, Seoul, North, Hangzhou