{
  "id": 2958720,
  "title": "N. Korea, Belarus near visa-waiver agreement for ordinary citizens: report",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/24/n-korea-belarus-near-visa-waiver-agreement-for-ordinary-citizens-2958720",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-24T06:27:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times",
    "url": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffairs/northkorea/20260824/n-korea-belarus-near-visa-waiver-agreement-for-ordinary-citizens-report"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "North Korea and Belarus are reportedly close to signing a visa-waiver agreement for their citizens, according to Belarusian state media. Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov stated that the deal is expected to be finalized \"in the very near future\" after discussions with his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son-hui.\n\nDuring a meeting in March in Pyongyang, Lukashenko and Kim Jong-un signed an agreement on friendship and cooperation. The reported visa waiver is believed to be a follow-up to that summit. At the time of the summit, Lukashenko received an assault rifle from Kim as a gift.\n\nBelarusian Prime Minister, Alyaksandr Lukashenko, is quoted as saying that only some technical details remain to be worked out in the visa-waiver agreement.",
  "summary": "North Korea and Belarus are close to signing a visa-waiver agreement for ordinary citizens, Belarus' state media has reported. The report by the Belarusian news agency BelTA on Sunday (Belarus time) said Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov discussed ways to enhance mutual times with his North Korean counterpart, Choe Son-hui, including the pending deal. \"We will sign it in the very near…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Yonhap News",
        "title": "N. Korea, Belarus near visa-waiver agreement for ordinary citizens: report",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/24/n-korea-belarus-near-visa-waiver-agreement-for-ordinary-citizens",
        "published": "2026-08-24T05:51:38.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Korea Times",
        "title": "N. Korea, Belarus near visa-waiver agreement for ordinary citizens: report",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/24/n-korea-belarus-near-visa-waiver-agreement-for-ordinary-citizens-2960214",
        "published": "2026-08-24T06:32:03.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}