North Korea will send 6,000 military workers and combat engineers to help rebuild Russia's Kursk region, Moscow's top security official said, in the latest show of growing ties between the two countries.

Secretary of the Russian Security Council Sergei Shoigu arrived in North Korea on June 17 on special instructions from President Vladimir Putin. He is to hold talks with the DPRK leadership, including the country's leader Kim Jong Un "as part of the implementation of the agreements reached during the last visit on June 4,

Wrapping up a one-day visit to Pyongyang, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un decided to send 1,000 sappers to clear mines in the Kursk region and 5,000 military construction workers to restore infrastructure there, according to Russia's state news agency, Tass.