North Korean ruling Workers' Party Secretary Choe Ryong-hae has returned home after visiting Russia as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s special envoy.
 
The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said Choe returned to the North on Monday aboard a special plane together with First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-kwan and other officials.
 
On his last day in Russia, Choe visited the Russian Far East and met with Primorsky Territory Governor Vladimir Miklushevsky and discussed ways to promote bilateral economic cooperation.
 
Choe arrived in Moscow last Monday and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and delivered a letter addressed to Putin from the North Korean leader. Choe then met with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last Thursday.
 
In a news conference after holding talks with Choe, Lavrov said Russia is ready to hold the highest-level of contact with the North, hinting Moscow's intention to hold a Russia-North Korea summit.