N.K.-Russia summit likely Feb. 25-26: Sankei Shimbun

North Korean Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-Il is likely to visit Russia on Feb. 25-26 to hold a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Sankei Shimbun of Japan reported Thursday.

The Japanese daily, quoting diplomatic sources in Moscow, reported that the Kim-Putin meeting would be possibly held in Irkutsk in Siberia and to this end, the two nations are now putting the final touches on the itinerary.

If the summit talks were held as scheduled, President Putin would meet the North Korean leader shortly making an official visit to Seoul, the paper said.

However, a Russian diplomatic source said that Putin and Kim had agreed on the latter's Russian visit but that it was not decided whether Kim would come to Russia before Putin's Seoul trip, the Japanese paper noted.

In the projected NK-Russia summit talks, the leaders of the two countries are expected to discuss joint measures to counter the George W. Bush administration's policy to push ahead with its national missile defense (NSD) program and ways of promoting military and technological cooperation between the two nations, the daily added.

Lee Young-Ee yes202@donga.com