SEOUL (Reuters) -Laotian President Thongloun Sisoulith will visit North Korea at the invitation of leader Kim Jong Un for celebrations commemorating the country’s ruling party on October 10, state news agency KCNA announced on Thursday.
The visit would be a rare trip by a foreign head of state to North Korea, which is under heavy international sanctions for its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, and has maintained restrictions on foreign visitors.
Vietnam’s Communist Party chief To Lam is also expected to visit North Korea in October, which would be the first visit in nearly 20 years by a Vietnamese leader to the isolated nation.
That potential visit, with preparations still underway, has not been officially announced by either side.
South Korean officials said there are signs that North Korea will stage a military parade for the holiday, commemorating the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday.
(Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Kim Coghill and Thomas Derpinghaus.)
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