Kim Song-nam, left, director of the international department at the North's ruling Workers' Party of Korea, shakes hands with Thongloun Sisoulith, the secretary general of the Communist Party of Laos in this file photo carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, March 31. Yonhap

A North Korean delegation led by a senior official visited Laos and stressed the North's policy of bolstering defense capabilities, the North's state media reported Sunday.

Kim Song-nam, director of the international department at the North's ruling Workers' Party of Korea, met Thongsavanh Phomvihane, head of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party's external relations committee, last Friday, according to the report.

Laos is the final leg of Kim's three-nation trip that also took him to China and Vietnam.

Kim also paid a courtesy visit to Thongloun Sisoulith, the secretary general of the Communist Party of Laos.

In an English-language dispatch, the KCNA said the North Korean official conveyed a "verbal letter" from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to Sisoulith.

The North Korean official said Pyongyang would "hasten the victory of the socialist cause and ramp up the comradely and strategic cooperation" with Laos, according to the report.

Kim's trip appears to be aimed at strengthening North Korea's ties with countries sharing the socialist ideology after South Korea established diplomatic relations with Cuba last month. Pyongyang has long boasted brotherly ties with Cuba.

Laos is scheduled to host an annual regional security meeting, the ASEAN Regional Forum, later this year.

North Korea has not sent its foreign minister to the forum since 2019, and the North's delegation's visit to Laos raised speculation on whether the North's top diplomat, Choi Son-hui, would attend the security gathering this year. (Yonhap)