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Kim Jong-un to visit Moscow: Russian envoy

April 23, 2015

Russian Ambassador Alexander Timonin speaks to the press at the Russian Embassy in Seoul on April 23, 2015. (Yonhap)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will visit Moscow in May for World War II anniversary celebrations, a Russian diplomat said Thursday.

Kim has been invited to attend the May 9 celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of Russia’s victory in the war.

If he visits Russia, it will be his first foreign trip since taking power in late 2011.

Citing a Russian news report that quoted a top presidential official, Ambassador Alexander Timonin said Russia is expecting Kim’s visit.

“His participation was confirmed maybe through diplomatic channels, the details of which aren’t always disclosed,” he told a meeting with reporters at the Russian Embassy here. “So you don’t need to worry. He will likely come.”

Other than his participation in the main event, Kim could also hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the envoy said.

The Moscow event had drawn attention in South Korea especially because of the possibility of an inter-Korean summit on its sidelines. South Korean President Park Geun-hye, however, recently decided to send Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, one of her special advisers for political affairs and a lawmaker of her ruling Saenuri Party, on her behalf.

Timonin dismissed views that Park’s decision upset Moscow, saying he was informed that it was due to a scheduling conflict.

Moscow “respects” Seoul’s decision, and it will not affect the two countries’ relations, he said.

As a former Russian ambassador to Pyongyang, Timonin also urged the two Koreas to begin dialogue and contact as soon as possible.

“I am certain that the peoples of the two countries, who wish for reunification, can find a way to approach and cooperate with each other,” he said.

Timonin also expressed Russian interest in participation in the two Koreas’ joint industrial complex, located in North Korea’s border city of Kaesong.

Talks have been under way on various possible projects, including one proposed by ethnic Koreans in Russia, related to food production, he said.

The complex, which was built following the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, serves as a major source of revenue for the cash-strapped North.