Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora died at 70 on Saturday, according to Moscow’s foreign ministry, following decades of diplomatic service on the Korean Peninsula.

Matsegora served as a “distinguished Russian diplomat and patriot, who made a significant contribution to the formation and deepening of the comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and the DPRK,” the ministry announced in a press release Monday.

The ministry did not specify the cause of death.

Georgy Toloraya, a former Soviet and Russian diplomat, described the late ambassador as an “epoch in Russian diplomacy in Korea.”

“Having known him for 52 years, I met