Russia's president Vladimir Putin called yesterday for deeper ties with North Korea to improve regional security, a day after holding talks with a personal envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Senior North Korean officials visit Moscow infrequently but the isolated country is trying to counter a UN resolution urging Pyongyang's referral to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
Russia is also one of five countries involved in talks with North Korea on its nuclear programme. The others are South Korea, China, the United States and Japan.
The Kremlin gave no details of Mr Putin’s meeting on Tuesday with Choe Ryong Hae, a close aide to Mr Kim and a senior official from the ruling Workers’ Party who is on a seven-day trip to Russia.
But receiving the credentials of North Korea’s new ambassador to Russia, Kim Hyun-joon, Mr Putin said during a televised Kremlin ceremony: “We maintain friendly relations with one of our neighbours, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. A further deepening of political ties and trade and economic co-operation is definitely in the interests of the peoples of both countries and ensuring regional stability and security.”
A Russian foreign ministry source told Interfax this week the visit would include discussion of bilateral ties, economic developments and North Korea’s nuclear programme but made no mention of the UN resolution.
War crimes allegation
On Tuesday, a UN assembly committee dealing with human rights passed a resolution calling for the UN
Security Council
to consider referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
The vote followed a UN Commission of Inquiry report published in February detailing wide-ranging abuses in North Korea, including prison camps, systematic torture, starvation and killings comparable to Nazi-era atrocities.
North Korea has dismissed the UN move as part of a US-led plot to destroy its political system. – (Reuters)