Russian ambassador says contacts between Moscow, Seoul depend on situation in South Korea

MOSCOW, February 7. /TASS/. This year’s schedule of high-level contacts between Moscow and Seoul is under consideration, it very much depends on the current political situation in South Korea, Russian Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Timonin said in an interview with TASS. While responding to a question when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov could visit Seoul, he said that "we are content with intensive high-level political contacts between our countries." "We hope that bilateral political dialogue will remain active this year," the Russian ambassador added. According to him, "the schedule for contacts between the two foreign ministries in 2017 is currently under consideration. It will be agreed on depending on the political situation in South Korea." The diplomat pointed out that in March 2016, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich had held talks with South Korea’s Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia. In April 2016, Moscow hosted a meeting of the parliament speakers of Eurasian countries, arranged for the first time upon the initiative of Russia’s State Duma (lower house of parliament) speaker and the speaker of South Korea’s National Assembly. In May 2016, Chief of South Korea’s Constitutional Court Park Han-Chul visited Russia to take part in the Fourth St. Petersburg International Legal Forum. "The foreign ministers of Russia and South Korea met three times last year: on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February, during a meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia held in Beijing in April, and in June, when the South Korean top diplomat visited Russia," Timonin added. Read more