North Korean Chairman of the State Commission of Science and Technology Ri Chung-gi, left, speaks to Russian Ambassador to Pyongyang Alexander Matsegora at the Russian Embassy in North Korea, May 13. Yonhap

A North Korean science and technology delegation has returned home after a weeklong visit to Russia, state media said Wednesday, as the two countries are deepening their bilateral ties following the summit of their leaders in September.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the delegation led by Ri Chung-gil, chairman of the State Commission of Science and Technology, arrived back home on Tuesday after attending the eighth meeting of a government committee on trade and economy as well as science and technology cooperation between the two nations, in Moscow.

The delegation had left for the trip on May 13.

The one-sentence dispatch did not provide further details, but the visit is the latest in a series of deepening exchanges between Pyongyang and Moscow in a wide range of areas.

During the visit, Ri held a meeting with Valery Falkov, the Russian minister of science and higher education, while delegation members visited key institutions, including Moscow State University and the Russian Academy of Sciences.

But cooperation in the field of science and technology with North Korea, with the exception of those for medical purposes, is banned under U.N. Security Council Resolution 2321, which was adopted in 2016 in response to the North's fifth nuclear test. (Yonhap)