President Moon's special envoy meets Russian officials to strengthen Seoul-Moscow ties
송영길 대러 특사 "남북러 3각협력 사업 북핵 해결 지렛대" Meanwhile, the demanding work has only just began for South Korea's special envoy to Russia. Meeting with officials in Moscow he delivered President Moon's message of cooperation. For details we turn to Lee Ji-won. On his first day in Moscow, Seoul's special envoy to Russia, Song Young-gil, relayed President Moon Jae-in's will to strengthen South Korea-Russia ties, and reaffirmed Moscow's intent to work closely with Seoul. During his meeting with Alexander Galushka, Minister of the Development of the Russian Far East on Tuesday, Song discussed ways to heat up economic cooperation between South Korea and Russia,... and even North Korea if the conditions are right. Galushka agreed, saying the three sides must see such cooperation as a separate issue from the North's nuclear development and work on it while pressuring Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons. The two sides also agreed to continue the construction of a pipeline through North Korea that, once complete,... would supply Russian natural gas to South Korea. They pledged to restart work on the so-called Rajin-Khasan railway project to promote trade between the three countries. The project has been in limbo for more than a year... after the former Park Geun-hye administration suspended it in response to the North's nuclear threats. Song also met with Ilyas Umakhanov, the deputy speaker of the Russian parliament's upper chamber and a number of other lawmakers. He sought their cooperation in strengthening bilateral ties and denuclearizing North Korea. Song, who is a lawmaker for the ruling Democratic Party, assessed his first day in Moscow positively. He said Russian officials emphasized the need to solve North Korea's nuclear issue through dialogue and negotiations rather than pressure and sanctions. He shared President Moon's plan of bringing about change in the North through economic cooperation between the two Koreas and Russia, on top of strict international restrictions on the regime's nuclear weapons development. Song will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to deliver a personal letter from President Moon. They are set to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue, economic cooperation and the timing of a summit between the two leaders. Lee Ji-won, Arirang News. Visit ‘Arirang News’ Official Pages Facebook(NEWS): / newsarirang Homepage: http://www.arirang.com Facebook: / arirangtv Twitter: / arirangworld Instagram: / arirangworld
