President Roh to Visit Russia in September

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on August 3 that President Roh Moo-hyun is scheduled to visit Russia next month.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Chairman Lim Chye-jong of the Korea National Assembly’s Committee on Unification, Foreign Affairs, and Trade, who is visiting Moscow, met with the chairman of the Duma (Russian Lower House) Foreign Affairs Committee, Konstantin Kosachev, and talked about President Roh’s visit to Russia.

It will be President Roh’s first visit to Russia. The Russian newspaper Commerzant reported, “President Roh was scheduled to visit Russia last year, but his visit was delayed because of the situation in Korea regarding his impeachment.”

The Russian media quoted Chairman Lim and reported that cooperation on energy issues and the railroads will most likely be the main agenda of the summit meeting of the leaders from Korea and Russia.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Konstantin Pulikovsky, the Russian president`s plenipotentiary to the Far Eastern Federal District, relayed the news that the North Korean national leader, Kim Jong-il, also intends to pay another visit to Russia.

Russia’s Interfax reported, “Chairman of the North Korean National Defense Commission Kim Jong-il, who had visited Russia twice to attend summit meetings with President Vladimir Putin, expressed his intention to revisit Russia to Pulikovsky, the presidential envoy of Russia.”

Ki-Hyun Kim kimkihy@donga.com