NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong Un has met Russia’s foreign minister in Pyongyang in a move that Moscow hopes will reassert its role as a force to be reckoned with ahead of Kim’s expected summit with Donald Trump next month.
Moscow has remained largely on the sidelines as Kim has made a major diplomatic outreach to Seoul, Beijing and Washington over the past several months but Sergey Lavrov’s visit suggests the Kremlin wants to make sure it is informed of North Korea’s intentions.
Lavrov relayed Vladimir Putin’s “warmest regards and best wishes” for Kim’s “big endeavours” on the Korean Peninsula. He also expressed Moscow’s support for an agreement Kim reached with South Korean at a summit last month focused on easing hostilities and bolstering diplomatic ties.
Lavrov met with foreign minister Ri Yong Ho, vowing Russia’s support for de-nuclearisation and a broader effort to ensure peace in the region. But he indicated that Moscow believes sanctions can be eased while the process unfolds, diverging from the US insistence on de-nuclearisation first.
He said: “It’s obvious that when a conversation starts about solving the nuclear problem and other problems of the Korean peninsula, we proceed from the fact that the decision can’t be complete while sanctions are still in place.”
Meanwhile, Kim’s former intelligence chief Kim Yong Chol was in New York to discuss the agenda for a summit with Trump.
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