Military officials from Vietnam visited North Korea for deputy ministerial talks this week in a bid to expand defense cooperation between the two countries, according to Vietnamese state media.

Vietnamese deputy defense minister Hoang Xuan Chien met with his North Korean counterpart Kim Min Sop in Pyongyang on Wednesday to discuss defense policies and ways to strengthen military ties, the Vietnamese People’s Army Newspaper reported on the same day.

The military outlet did not specify when the delegation arrived in North Korea, mentioning only that the visit took place at the invitation of North Korea’s Ministry of Defense.

The Vietnamese