VLADIVOSTOK, April 25. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin talked about the issues that were discussed at his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Starting the expanded negotiations, the Russian state leader called the previous part a thorough one. "We just had a thorough face-to-face conversation," the Russian leader said.

"We talked about the history of our insterstate relations, the current situation and the prospects for the development of our bilateral ties," the Russian president noted. "We discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula and shared our positions on the measures to be taken for the situation to have good prospects for improvement," Putin stressed.

The Russian state leader thanked Kim Jong-un for accepting Moscow’s invitation and coming to Russia.

The warm greetings

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hopes that his dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin that started as constructive will continue to be so.

"We just exchanged our positions with you, Mr President, in a face-to-face conversation on issues of mutual interest, on all major problems. I thank you for the splendid time and I hope that our negotiations will continue in the same way, as fruitful and constructive," the North Korean leader said.

"I came to Russia to exchange opinions on the situation on the Korean Peninsula, which is one of the major problems on the current international agenda, as well as discuss ways to peacefully settle this issue and exchange opinions on the development of our bilateral relations in accordance with the demands of the new century," he said.

The North Korean leader thanked Putin for finding time for a meeting and a thorough conversation in his tight schedule. He also conveyed warm greetings from North Korea’s government and people to his Russian counterpart and "dear Russian friends." Kim Jong-un highlighted that his delegation is glad to visit Russia, which he called "a friendly great neighbor."

The delegations

The North Korean side at the negotiations also includes Minister of Foreign Affairs Ri Yong-ho and First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son Hui.

The Russian Federation is represented by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov, Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora, Minister of Transport Yevgeny Ditrikh, Minister for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic Alexander Kozlov, Deputy Minister of Energy Anatoly Yanovsky and Russian Railways Director General Oleg Belozerov.