SEOUL (Reuters) – Senior South Korean and U.S. officials held an emergency phone call over a possible upcoming visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to North Korea, Seoul’s foreign ministry said on Friday.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-gyun said in a phone call with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell that Putin’s visit should not lead to deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, which violates U.N. Security Council resolutions . .
Campbell echoed Kim Jong-un’s concerns and pledged continued cooperation to address potential regional instability and challenges arising from the visit.
“While paying close attention to relevant developments, both sides agreed to resolutely respond to North Korea’s provocations against South Korea and actions that aggravate regional tensions through close cooperation,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
On Wednesday, a senior official in the presidential office in Seoul said Putin was expected to visit North Korea “in the coming days.” Russia’s Vedomosti newspaper reported on Monday that Putin would visit North Korea and Vietnam in the coming weeks.
Seoul website NK PRO reported this week, citing commercial satellite imagery, that Pyongyang’s airport had been cleared of civilian aircraft and there were signs of a possible military parade in the capital’s Kim Il Sung Square.
When then-Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu visited Pyongyang last year to warm relations between the two countries, he accompanied Kim to a military parade and saluted North Korea as its banned nuclear-tipped missiles rolled past.
Speaking at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington on Wednesday, Campbell said the United States has a good understanding of what North Korea is providing Russia, which he said “has a significant impact on the battlefield.”
What’s less clear, he said, is what Russia is providing North Korea.
“Hard currency? Is it energy? Is it the capability that allows them to advance nuclear or missile products? We don’t know. But we are concerned about it and we are watching it carefully,” he said.
