HAMBURG, Germany -- Upon meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, President Moon Jae-in completed his initial diplomatic mission of making acquaintance with the “Big Four” nations during his visit to Germany.
The South Korean leader attended a bilateral summit with his Russian counterpart in Hamburg on Friday, local time, on the sidelines of the annual Group of 20 summit which is taking place until Saturday.
President Moon Jae-in (left) sits with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a bilateral summit held in Hamburg, Friday, local time. (Yonhap)
Moon previously met with US counterpart Donald Trump in a separate bilateral summit in Washington last week, as well as in a trilateral summit with Japan in Hamburg on Friday.
He also sat with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Berlin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Hamburg before the G-20 summit kicked off.
During the 50-minute meeting, Moon and Putin exchanged their views on matters of common interest, ranging from economic cooperation to North Korea’s nuclear provocations.
Moon underlined that Russia, sharing its border with the Korean Peninsula, is an optimal partner for Korea to jointly aspire for the peace and prosperity of the Eurasian region.
Reciprocating, Putin pledged to expand on the mutually beneficial relationship of the two countries and invited Moon to the Russia-led East Economic Forum to take place in Vladivostok in September this year, to which Moon consented.
Of their common interest was the plan for South Korean companies to participate in the development of Russia’s far east region where an extensive range of transportation infrastructure is to be built over the following years.
The two countries, located across North Korea, also shared the view that the communist nation should be denuclearized and brought back to the negotiating table at all costs.
Some tension had escalated between the two countries, especially after Russia vetoed the adoption of a UNSC resolution denouncing North Korea's recent launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Russia claimed that the missile was a mid-range one and thus not sufficient a threat to regional and global security.
The Korea-Russia summit marked President Moon’s successful encounter with the Big Four nations within his first two month in office, according to the Blue House.
By Bae Hyun-jung
Korea Herald correspondent
(tellme@heraldcorp.com)