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North Korea FM comes on visit to Moscow

This is the first visit of the North Korean foreign minister to Russia in the last four years

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong EPA/HOANG DINH NAM / POOL

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong

© EPA/HOANG DINH NAM / POOL

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MOSCOW, September 30. /ITAR-TASS/. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong came on a visit to the Russian capital on Tuesday. The airplane with the Pyongyang top diplomat has landed at the Moscow airport.

This is the first visit of the North Korean foreign minister to Russia in the last four years. Before this visit, former Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun visited Moscow on December 12-15, 2010. Ri Su Yong was appointed to this post in April.

High on the agenda of North Korean foreign minister’s visit are talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on October 1. The two ministers will discuss bilateral cooperation, including stepping up political dialogue and trade and economic ties, and the situation on the Korean Peninsula, particularly the Pyongyang nuclear program. Negotiators “will debate pressing international problems, including the current situation in Ukraine and the Middle East, the situation over the Iranian nuclear program and efforts taken to shape new security architecture in the Asia-Pacific,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Sergey Lavrov and Ri Su Yong will sum up results of joint efforts taken to upgrade a contractual legal basis in different spheres from cultural and humanitarian ties to technological and financial cooperation. The ministers will discuss how to raise the bilateral trade to $1 billion. They will also discuss the progress of implementing major investment projects, including functioning of an multi-modular transhipment center at the North Korean port of Rajin, as well as new programs which are being implemented on the principle of “Russian equipment and investments in a swap for Korean mineral resources.”

Observers noted a stronger shuttle diplomacy by North Korean high-ranking officials who went on several visits in Africa, countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Ri Su Yong visited Iran’s capital Tehran, delivered a speech on the general political situation at a UN General Assembly session on September 28 that had not happened for the last 15 years and met UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

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