Delivery time2024-01-17 07:11
Report on the results of the meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers… Possibility of coordination of Putin’s visit to North Korea
Arms trade discussions may have been mentioned
Russian President Putin meets North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui
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(Moscow = Yonhap News) Correspondent Choi In-young = Russian President Vladimir Putin met North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, who is visiting Russia, on the 16th (local time).
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to the RIA Novosti news agency that President Putin welcomed Foreign Minister Choi at the Kremlin Palace in Moscow that day, the news agency reported.
Afterwards, the Kremlin also announced on its website that President Putin met with Foreign Minister Choi and heard an explanation of the results of the meeting between the North Korean and Russian foreign ministers held earlier that day. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his adviser Yuri Ushakov also attended the event.
President Putin appears to have met Foreign Minister Choi after a meeting with local government officials that ended around 7 p.m. on this day.
The Kremlin, however, did not announce specific details about the results of the meeting.
Previously, Foreign Minister Choi met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at 12 noon on this day and discussed the status of implementation of the North Korea-Russia summit agreement held in September last year and issues on the Korean Peninsula.
It is expected that President Putin’s schedule for his visit to North Korea was also discussed. In his opening remarks, Foreign Minister Choi mentioned that North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un invited President Putin to North Korea.
Spokesperson Peskov also said the day before that President Putin’s schedule for his visit to North Korea would be coordinated through diplomatic channels.
If President Putin visits North Korea this year, it will be approximately 24 years since July 2000.
There is also a possibility that Foreign Minister Choi mentioned arms trade discussions when he met with President Putin.
As Russia strengthens its relations with North Korea after the ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine in 2022, the West is raising suspicions that it is receiving artillery shells and missiles from North Korea. However, Russia and North Korea have consistently denied such allegations of arms deals.
In a video released by the RIA Novosti news agency on Telegram, President Putin smiled brightly and offered to shake hands when he found Foreign Minister Choi waiting first as he entered the reception room.
Pavel Zarubin, a reporter for the state-run Rossiya 1 broadcast, published a video on Telegram showing President Putin shaking hands with Foreign Minister Choi, who was leading the North Korean delegation, for more than 10 seconds. However, the content of the conversation between the two was not made public. It is rare for him, who has frequently posted videos related to President Putin, to release a video without sound.
Reporter Zarubin additionally uploaded a photo of President Putin talking with Foreign Minister Choi with a bright smile and wrote, “There is no sound, but facial expressions say a lot.”
Although Minister Lavrov also met with Chairman Kim when he visited North Korea in October last year, Reuters reported that the meeting between President Putin and Chairman Choi was “unusual.” Some say that this meeting shows that North Korea-Russia relations have become stronger.
Foreign Minister Choi, who arrived in Moscow on the 14th, is scheduled to return to North Korea on the 17th after completing a three-day official visit starting on the 15th. The day before, he visited the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior and Zaryadiye Park.
abbie@yna.co.kr
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2024/01/17 07:11 Sent
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2024-01-16 22:11:59
