It was an awkward moment when effusive gratitude simply went on far too long – after Vladimir Putin appeared to spook North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui with a minute-long handshake in the Kremlin.
The Russian President, 72, was expressing his gratitude to Kim Jong-Un’s top envoy after he helped out the Russian leader by deploying 11,000 North Korean troops to fight against Ukraine.
But she looked confused and uncomfortable as Putin then failed to loosen his grip on her hand while expressing his thanks to the repressive state for the military aid.
As the 60-year-old diplomat replied to him in Russian, the Kremlin chief kept hold of her hand.
Handshaking is not a widespread custom among everyday interactions within North Korean society. And Ms Choe’s discomfort was plain for all to see.
But the awkward encounter came after North Korean forces have been deployed to Russia’s Kursk region where some 400 square miles is occupied by Ukrainian forces.
Kyiv says it has already engaged the North Korean fighters – but Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has made clear he is alarmed at a lack of Western military support to help him counter the new Pyongyang troops fighting six time zones from home.
He warned in his nightly TV message: “As for the North Korean troops in Russia, there are already 11,000 in the Kursk region.
“We see an increase in North Koreans and we do not see an increase in the reaction of our [Western] partners.”
Choe Son Hui had not been scheduled to meet Putin on her visit to Russia, but the Kremlin dictator changed his schedule to see her.
She said: “From the very beginning of the special military operation, respected comrade Chairman of State Affairs Kim Jong-Un gave the order that we, without looking over our shoulder at anyone, should invariably and powerfully support and provide assistance to the Russian army and the Russian people in their holy war.
“We have no doubt that under the wise leadership of the respected President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, the Russian army and people will certainly achieve a great victory in their sacred struggle to protect the sovereign rights and security of their state.”
Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, revealed that the newly deployed North Koreans are wearing Russian uniforms.
“The first ones have already been under fire,” he said.
“I can’t talk about the losses yet, I don’t know this, the information is being checked.
“But the fact that the first ones have already been spotted and there was shelling on these positions, that’s for sure.”
