North Korea foreign minister to visit Moscow next week: Russian embassy
North Korea’s foreign minister Ri Yong Ho, who is in Beijing, will visit Russia during his current foreign tour on April 10, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The two sides will discuss bilateral ties and opinions on key international and regional issues, with a special focus on the situation on the Korean peninsula, Zakharova said.
File photo of North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)
Last week, Russia said it was working on setting up meetings about the North Korean issue in Moscow, without providing further details.
Ri arrived in Beijing for talks with his Chinese counterpart just a week after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a surprise trip to the Chinese capital where he met President Xi Jinping in his first visit abroad since inheriting power from his father in December 2011.
Ri will be the most senior North Korean official to visit Russia in recent years.
Pyongyang had close ties with Moscow during the Soviet era.
Kim was supposed to visit Russia in 2015 to attend celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazis in World War II but eventually rejected the invitation.
His father Kim Jong Il visited Russia in his armoured train in 2011 shortly before his death.
Ri will also visit Azerbaijan and other former Soviet republics in coming days, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported, citing a diplomatic source.
The latest visit is part of a flurry of diplomacy that has eased regional tensions after months of bellicose rhetoric between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.
Kim is due to hold a summit with South Korea’s Moon Jae-in on Apr 27 and a landmark summit with US President Donald Trump is also planned.
Read: Kim Jong Un’s secret visit to China ahead of US-South Korean Dialogue?
Source: AFP, Reuters, Channel News Asia Kayra Watson The Kootneeti Team – Indo-Pacific Watch
