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Kim Jong Un showed off North Korea’s latest weapons to Russia’s defence chief Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday.

Pyongyang invited the Russian delegation led by Mr Shoigu, as well as Chinese officials.

They will attend Pyongyang’s celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Korean War’s armistice, marked typically by massive military parades.

The weapons on display included the Hwasong intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Successfully tested in April, It is believed to be the country’s first ICBM to use solid propellants, which makes it quicker to launch than liquid-fuel ones.

Also on show were two new drone designs, including one resembling the primary offensive strike drone used by the US Air Force, according to NK News, a specialist site focusing on North Korea.

The friendly tour comes amid accusations that Pyongyang is supplying Russia with arms for use in its war in Ukraine – a claim that both Pyongyang and Moscow deny.

North Korea’s KCNA said Mr Kim and Mr Shoigu discussed “matters of mutual concern” in the fields of national defence and on the international security environment.

The delegations’ visit for North Korea’s Victory Day – as the 1953 end of hostilities is called in the North – is expected to finish on Thursday with an extensive military parade. The Koreas are technically still at war because no peace agreement was reached when the conflict ended.

Both Russia and China are long time allies of North Korea. Their visit marks the first time Mr Kim has thrown open the doors to foreign guests since the Covid pandemic.

The last time Pyongyang invited foreign government delegates for a military parade was in February 2018.

Mr Kim had a “friendly talk” with Mr Shoigu, who handed him an autographed letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin, KCNA said, adding that he had later called North Korea’s military “the most powerful” in the world.

The visiting Chinese delegation, led by politburo member Li Hongzhong, also handed a personal letter from Mr Xi to Mr Kim.

Mr Kim reportedly told Mr Li that “the Korean people will never forget the fact that the brave soldiers of the Chinese People’s Volunteers shed blood to bring about the war victory”.

Beijing had sent troops in the autumn of 1950 to support North Korea in the war against South Korea. The then Soviet Union also supported North Korea in the war.

Since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Russia has remained a natural ally for North Korea because of their mutual dislike for the US.

Some analysts say the inclusion of Chinese and Russian envoys in this year’s Victory Day parade hints at a possible loosening of Covid restrictions.

This comes weeks after images of North Koreans walking around without masks were shown on state media.

The reclusive country had sealed itself off from all trade and diplomatic ties in early 2020, even with Russia and China, its main economic and political partners.

Singapore is scheduled to execute a woman for the first time in almost 20 years, human rights advocates say.

Singaporean national Saridewi Djamani, 45, was found guilty of trafficking 30g (0.03oz) of heroin in 2018.

She will be the second drug convict to be executed in three days, after fellow Singaporean Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, and the 15th since March 2022.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws, which it says are necessary to protect society.

Aziz was convicted of trafficking 50g of heroin. Singapore mandates the death penalty for trafficking of more than 15g of heroin and more than 500g of cannabis.

Last April, another Singaporean, Tangaraju Suppiah, was executed for trafficking 1kg (35oz) of cannabis that he never touched. Authorities say he co-ordinated the sale via mobile phone.

Singapore’s Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) declined to comment on Djamani’s case when contacted by the BBC.

In an earlier statement, the CNB said Aziz was accorded “full due process”, and that his appeal against his conviction and sentence was dismissed in 2018.

British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, has again criticised Singapore for its executions, saying the death penalty is not a deterrent against crime.

“Small-scale drug traffickers need help, as most are bullied due to their circumstances,” Mr Branson said on Twitter.

It is not too late to stop Saridewi’s execution, he said.

Saridewi is one of two women on death row in Singapore, according to the Transformative Justice Collective, a Singapore-based human rights group.

She will be the first woman executed by the city-state since hairdresser Yen May Woen in 2004, the group said. Yen was also convicted of drug trafficking.

Local has media reported that Saridewi testified during her trial that she was stocking up on heroin for personal use during the Islamic fasting month.

While she did not deny selling drugs such as heroin and methamphetamine from her flat, she downplayed the scale of those activities, noted judge See Kee Oon.

Authorities argue that strict drug laws help keep Singapore as one of the safest places in the world and that capital punishment for drug offences enjoys wide public support.

But anti-death penalty advocates refute this.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs,” said Amnesty International’s Chiara Sangiorgio in a statement.

“The only message that these executions send is that the government of Singapore is willing to once again defy international safeguards on the use of the death penalty,” she said.

Amnesty International noted that alongside China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, Singapore is one of only four countries to have recently carried out drug-related executions.