Russia "Continued High-Level North Korea-Russia Contacts... Support for Korean Peninsula Negotiation Process"

Press Conference of Russian Foreign Minister Visiting North Korea
Putin Hints at Possible Return Visit to North Korea

Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, who is visiting North Korea, stated that high-level exchanges between North Korea and Russia will continue. This appears to hint at the possibility of a reciprocal visit to North Korea by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to TASS on the 19th (local time), after holding talks with Choe Son-hui, North Korean Foreign Minister, Lavrov held a press conference and said, "A month ago, there was a top-level contact (summit), and today there was a high-level contact (foreign ministers' meeting). I am confident that such contacts will continue."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This is interpreted as suggesting the possibility of President Putin’s visit to North Korea. On the 13th of last month, Putin held talks with Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast during Kim’s visit to Russia’s Far East region, discussing ways to strengthen cooperation between the two countries. At that time, it was reported that President Putin accepted Kim’s request for a visit to Russia.

Minister Lavrov also expressed support for establishing a negotiation process without preconditions to discuss security issues on the Korean Peninsula.

He said, “The increased military activities of the United States, Japan, and South Korea here (on the Korean Peninsula), as well as the relocation of U.S. strategic infrastructure including nuclear assets to the Korean Peninsula, cause serious concerns for us and our North Korean colleagues.”

He continued, “Russia, together with North Korea and China, opposes the ‘unconstructive and dangerous course’ pursued by the U.S., South Korea, and Japan, and promotes a ‘course of tension reduction and non-acceptance of tension escalation,’ striving to constructively propose alternatives to tension escalation.”

He added, “We support establishing a regular negotiation process without preconditions to discuss security issues on the Korean Peninsula.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.