Moscow, Pyongyang Will Discuss Best Timing for Kim Visit to Russia – Putin Aide

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov handed over earlier an invitation to Kim to visit Russia, possibly the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF). Later in June, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed the invitation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out that North Korea had not confirmed the visit yet.

Moscow and Pyongyang will consider various options of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakovtold the Izvestiya newspaper.

Ushakov stressed that Moscow did not expect both North and South Korean leaders to attend the EEF over media reports about their meeting scheduled for the same time.

“The invitation [for Kim] is open. It has been confirmed several times. We will consider various variants of the visit in a working order,” Ushakov said.

The fourth EEF will be held on September 11-13 in the city of Vladivostok in Russia's Far East.

Kim Jong-un was elected secretary general of the Worker's Party of North Korea in late September 2010, after his father, Kim Jong-il, died of a heart attack at the age of 69.

On a rare foreign trip, the elder Kim visited Russia in August 2011 in an armored train, holding talks with Russia’s then-President Dmitry Medvedev in the east Siberian republic of Buryatia.

READ MORE: North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un May Visit Russia in September – Chinese Media