Russia, DPRK Agree on Kim Jong Il's Visit to Moscow in AprilDPRK leader Kim Jong Il has accepted an invitation to visit Moscow in April, South Korea's state Yonhap news agency reported Sunday.Kim will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had invited him to visit when the pair met in Pyongyang last July, Yonhap said, citing unidentified diplomatic sources. Officials at South Korea's Foreign Ministry, which Yonhap said was notified of the visit by the Russian government late last month, were not available to confirm the report on Sunday. A visit by the North Korean leader to Russia would be the latest in a series of diplomatic moves by the nation. Last month, Kim Jong Il visited China to meet President Jiang Zemin and other top Chinese officials and inspect industrial facilities. It was his second trip to China in less than eight months and raised speculation that the North may try to imitate China and further open up to the outside world. North Korea has established diplomatic relations with eight European nations, Australia and the Philippines since last year. The United States, Canada and Japan are also in talks to improve relations with the North. The once-close relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang cooled after the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s. In 1995, Russia opted out of a defense agreement with the North and pursued stronger links with South Korea. |
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