DPRK FM Visits Moscow

DPRK Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun arrives in Moscow Monday for talks on relations between DPRK and South Korea and on business projects with Russia, Russian news reports said.

The four-day visit, which follows a trip to Moscow this summer by DPRK leader Kim Jong Il, is the first visit to Russia by a DPRK foreign minister in the past 15 years. It comes at a time of increasingly warm ties between the former allies, whose relations saw a decade-long cold spell in the 1990s.

Paek is to hold talks with his Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, and other Russian officials.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said Moscow was rekindling its ties with Pyongyang to ensure stability along its southeastern border by promoting inter-Korean dialogue and developing economic relations.

"Russia is interested in Korea's remaining peaceful and in Koreans' resolving their problems peacefully," he said, according to the Interfax news agency.

The past two years have seen a flurry of contacts between Russia and DPRK. Last summer, Kim took a 24-day train trip across Russia.

In an interview with the ITAR-Tass news agency before his departure, Paek said a "powerful force" behind the Russian-Korean contacts is "the close personal relationship between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il."

Paek's visit comes the same week as that of US President George W. Bush, who arrives in Moscow on Thursday. Russia has expressed concern over Bush's inclusion of DPRK in the "axis of evil" - countries the United States accuses of seeking weapons of mass destruction.

Russian diplomatic sources told Interfax that Russia will urge DPRK to continue dialogue with the United States and other Western countries.

The business projects on the agenda include a plan to extend the Trans-Siberian Railroad across the Koreas.

If implemented, the project would give South Korea's export-driven economy a rail link to Europe, which would be shorter and less expensive than the current sea route. For DPRK and Russia, it would yield revenues from transit fees.

Citing diplomatic sources, Interfax reported that the Russian and DPRK foreign ministers might also discuss military and technical cooperation between two countries.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2002)