Russian students from an elite diplomatic school are visiting North Korea to attend Kim Il Sung University for the first time in four years, a move which one expert described as another sign of deepening ties between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Five students from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), one of Russia’s most elite schools famed for producing diplomats, are currently taking part in a language exchange program at the DPRK’s top academic institution, the Russian embassy in North Korea announced on social media on Thursday.

The students visited the diplomatic mission at the invitation of charge d’affaires