Although they are unlikely to encounter each other during their stay in Moscow, two key foreign affairs officials of the two Koreas will separately be meeting with Russian counterparts this week, in an apparent effort to secure the regional power’s support amid high tensions.
Wi Sung-lac, the chief nuclear envoy of Seoul, will head for Russia on Tuesday to discuss pending issues following North Korea’s Nov. 23 artillery attack on a civilian-inhabited South Korean island, the Foreign Ministry here said.
Wi’s trip comes as North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun is also in Moscow, apparently hoping to persuade Russia to defend it from international condemnation for the attack that left four South Koreans dead.
He will meet with his Russian counterpart Alexei Borodavkin and return to Seoul on Thursday, according to the Foreign Ministry.
The two officials “will discuss how to deal with North Korea’s growing provocations, its apparent uranium enrichment programs and the conditions under which the stalled six-party denuclearization talks can resume,” a ministry official said on the condition of customary anonymity.
North Korea and its main ally China want to resume the aid-for-denuclearization talks, also involving Seoul, Washington, Tokyo and Moscow, stalled since the end of 2008.
Wi is unlikely to encounter Pyongyang’s foreign minister during his stay in Moscow, the official added.
The flurry of diplomacy among regional powers takes place following North Korea’s artillery shelling last month near the tense inter-Korean maritime border, which ratcheted up military tensions to the highest level in decades.
Angered and concerned by the increasingly provocative Pyongyang, which also recently unveiled a new uranium enrichment facility to outside experts, the U.S. and its main Asian allies South Korea and Japan have been vowing unified deterrence against the unpredictable state.
Beijing, which has so far refused to join the international move to condemn Pyongyang, has been under growing pressure to help rein in the nuclear-armed nation’s belligerence.
Unlike the situation earlier this year over Pyongyang’s apparent torpedoing of a South Korean warship, Russia, meanwhile, has already officially blamed Pyongyang for the deadly assault.
Still, North Korea continues to defend its artillery attack, showing little sign of change to help defuse tensions.
In an interview with Russia’s Interfax news agency, Pyongyang’s Foreign Minister Pak accused Seoul and Washington of pursuing a policy of hostility and confrontation, claiming his country had “made the right choice by strengthening defense with a nuclear deterrent.”
Talks among other dialogue partners are expected to continue this week as a U.S. delegation, led by Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, is scheduled to visit Beijing from Tuesday.
The senior delegation from Washington is expected to again request cooperation from China in controlling North Korea, according to U.S. officials.
Also members of the delegation, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Special Envoy on North Korea Sung Kim are scheduled to separately visit Tokyo and Seoul, respectively, to share with partners the result of talks with Beijing.
