The secretive North Korean leader has said little about his visit but is also likely to ask for economic aid for his destitute state, whose economy has been hit by floods as well as international sanctions over its nuclear weapons testing.
“Much attention will be paid to the topic of an early resumption of six-party talks to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula,” the Kremlin said in a statement. “Russia has consistently advocated a peaceful, political and diplomatic solution to this problem, for the restoration of dialogue and cooperation between North and South Korea.”
The Kremlin said Pyongyang had announced its readiness to return to six-party talks on its nuclear program with South Korea, Russia, China, Japan and the United States, more than two years after they broke up, and welcomed recent dialogue on the issue.
Russian and South Korean officials confirmed on Tuesday that Kim’s train had reached Ulan-Ude, three days after crossing the border.
Russia and China have backed the immediate resumption of the aid-for-disarmament talks and Kim may ask Russia to exert more pressure on South Korea, the United States and Japan to restart the negotiations.
However, US officials appear reluctant to start talks so soon, especially with South Korean officials still being wary of any North Korean military strikes.
(아주경제 앤드류 이 기자)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com