Russian and North Korean officials announced that they will meet in Moscow to discuss the North Korea crisis, a move welcomed by the United States, which has been locked in am increasingly heated war of words with Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programs.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Oleg Burmistrov, Russia’s ambassador-at-large, would meet Choe Son-hui, director-general of the North American department of North Korea’s foreign ministry.
According to RT, Russian international television network funded by the Russian government, Russian and North Korean diplomats met in Moscow to discuss the Korean Peninsula crisis.
Burmistrov met Son-hui in the Russian capital on Friday. They met behind closed doors.
The officials “exchanged views on the current situation on the Korean peninsula and in north-east Asia,” the statement from the ministry said.
According to the ministry, Russia is ready to join efforts and “find ways to solve the problems existing in the region by peaceful, political and diplomatic means.”
Moscow once again backed a ‘double-freeze’ plan, which it advocates together with China. According to the plan, Pyongyang would suspend its nuclear and ballistic missile tests in exchange for a halt in joint US-South Korean military exercises.
The talks lasted for almost five hours, RIA Novosti’s correspondent reported.
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