According to diplomatic sources, a South Korean Foreign Ministry official handling North Korea-related issues traveled to Moscow and met with Oleg Burmistrov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's special envoy for North Korea's nuclear issues.
Apart from a foreign ministers' meeting in September this year, this was the first gathering of nuclear officials since bilateral relations worsened after North Korea's troop deployment to Russia in October last year, drawing attention for possible changes.
Observers believe South Korea urged Russia to play a "constructive role" in promoting peace on the Korean Peninsula. During the meeting, Seoul likely raised concerns about military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, which violates UN Security Council resolutions, and also discussed efforts to bring an end to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Russia, however, denied the meeting, calling it an attempt to sow distrust between Moscow and Pyongyang, apparently mindful of North Korea.
According to the Kremlin's state-run news agency TASS, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in the statement, "The opponents of our cooperation with North Korea do not abandon their futile attempts to drive a wedge into the Russian-Korean comprehensive strategic partnership and sow distrust between the allied countries and the peoples of Russia and North Korea."
She added, "Russia does not hold any consultations with the South Korean side, does not discuss with it any topics affecting bilateral relations between Pyongyang and Seoul, much less the 'North Korean nuclear problem' because there is no 'North Korean nuclear problem' for Russia.'"
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