VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Russian scientists from Moscow's Natural Resources Ministry are to help North Korea gather data on its tiger population.
"We know for sure that Siberian tigers live in Russia and China. They can also be found in North Korea," said Sergey Aramilev of the ministry, TASS news agency reported Monday.
Russia's talks with North Korean partners on the tiger count initiative are ongoing, Aramilev added.
North Korea's environment holds favorable conditions for a Siberian tiger population, according to Yuri Darman, head of the Worldwide Fund for Nature's Far Eastern department in Russia.
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Russia and North Korea share an 11-mile border that is home to a wildlife population.
Darman said that a female tiger with her two cubs recently crossed from Russia to North Korea.
The experts also said about 540 tigers currently inhabit the Russian Far East, and the counting initiative is to continue in China in 2016.
In 2015, Russia and North Korea reaffirmed old ties, and Moscow's Foreign Ministry declared it the "Year of Friendship" with North Korea in March.
North Korea had said, "The bond of friendship runs deeper every day" with Russia.
Pyongyang's dealings with South Korea, however, took a downturn when inter-Korea talks ended without an agreement on Saturday, Yonhap reported.
Koo Soo-suk, a senior researcher at South Korea's Unification Research Institute, wrote in a JoongAng Ilbo editorial Monday that the talks ended without a joint statement because North Korea was prioritizing the resumption of tourism to Mount Kumgang, a tourist attraction, but the South wanted security guarantees.
In 2008, a South Korean tourist in North Korea was shot after wandering into a restricted zone.
