Outcome of the ROK-Russia Foreign Minister’s Meeting

Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov held a meeting in Moscow, Russia, in the morning of August 8, for an in-depth consultation on issues facilitating summit diplomacy and high-level personnel exchange, expansion of substantive cooperation, peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and ways to cooperate on the international stage. The two Ministers shared the view that relations between Korea and Russia have steadily developed in various areas including politics, economy, and culture, befitting their Strategic Cooperative Partnership. In addition, they noted that increased exchange between the two nations’ leaders of late, as demonstrated by the reciprocal visits by President Lee Myung-bak and Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev to each other’s country in 2010, the 20th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations, have brought the bilateral relations to a new level, resulting in an agreement to make effort to hold a summit on a regular basis. Minister Kim and Lavrov welcomed the continuous increases in trade and investment between the two countries, citing the projection that bilateral trade is expected to grow by more than 30% compared to the same quarter in the prior year to reach more than USD 20 billion. They agreed to strengthen substantive cooperation in far eastern Siberia and make continued effort to expand cooperation in areas where Russia is highly interested for modernizing its economy, including energy efficiency, IT, medical technology and devices. The two Ministers assessed the current situations concerning North Korea and its nuclear issue following the inter-Korean dialogue on denuclearization and US-North Korea talks in New York, and exchanged views on future responses. The Korean side explained the need to create conditions conducive to the resumption of the Six-party Talks through various bilateral and multilateral contacts beginning with inter-Korean talks, as well as its intention to maintain the inter-Korean dialogue in this context. In addition, Korea called for Russia’s continued effort and role on the issues to induce North Korea to take concrete actions in show of its commitment to denuclearization. The Russian side welcomed the recent resumptions of talks with North Korea and said that it had been making effort to create conditions favorable to the resumption of the Six-party Talks. On the shared position that future Six-party Talks should be held in a more substantive and productive manner, both sides agreed to continue close cooperation. Russia explained the details of its consultation with North Korea on the construction of a gas pipeline passing through North Korea to supply its gas to South Korea. Minister Kim appreciated such effort and agreed to hold close consultations with Russia in this regard. Korea and Russia, as Strategic Cooperative Partners, agreed to strengthen consultations on major global issues and to continue their cooperation for successful hosting of major international events held in the two countries, such as the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul and the APEC Russia 2012 summit in Vladivostok.