By Kang Seung-woo
President Park Geun-hye will meet her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Seoul, Tuesday, for bilateral talks that will mainly focus on economic and regional-stability issues.
The Seoul meeting will mark the second time the two state leaders will meet each other since Park's inauguration in February.
In September, Park met Putin on the sidelines of a Group of 20 major economies meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In addition, Putin's state visit has extra significance as it will be the first by a leader from the so-called four neighboring powers, which refer to the United States, China, Japan and Russia, since Park took office.
During the summit, the two leaders are expected to discuss ways to move bilateral relations forward, promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, intensify economic cooperation, and facilitate cultural and other exchanges before issuing a joint statement.
In the statement, they are expected to lay out their goal of denuclearizing North Korea in stronger wording, given Pyongyang's recent increasing hostilities despite the international community's warnings.
In February, the Kim Jong-un regime carried out its third nuclear test following a long-range rocket launch in December, believed to be a cover for a test of its nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile technology.
The joint statement is also likely to include the two nations' plan to expand trans-Korean economic cooperation with Russia, such as the North Korea-Russia project of linking railways from Khasan, Russia's eastern border town, to Rajin, a port city of North Korea.
In order to beef up cooperation with Moscow and Pyongyang, Seoul is focused on joining the North Korea-Russia rail project, as well as their plan to revamp the Rajin port.
Cooperation in the plan to connect a gas pipeline from Russia across the Korean Peninsula and the long-discussed project to link the Trans-Siberian Railway with the Trans-Korean Railway are also subjects to be covered in the joint statement.
In the September summit, the two leaders discussed economic cooperation, the North Korean nuclear standoff along with a possibility of railways that will link South Korea through to Europe.
Putin, who took office as Russian president for a historic third term in May last year, is visiting Korea for a third time following his first in 2001, and in 2005 when Korea hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Busan.
Under the Park administration, there have been five foreign leaders of state ― from Uganda, Mozambique, New Zealand, the Philippines and Poland ― to visit Seoul ahead of Putin.
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| Park Geun-hye | Vladimir Putin |
The Seoul meeting will mark the second time the two state leaders will meet each other since Park's inauguration in February.
In September, Park met Putin on the sidelines of a Group of 20 major economies meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In addition, Putin's state visit has extra significance as it will be the first by a leader from the so-called four neighboring powers, which refer to the United States, China, Japan and Russia, since Park took office.
During the summit, the two leaders are expected to discuss ways to move bilateral relations forward, promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, intensify economic cooperation, and facilitate cultural and other exchanges before issuing a joint statement.
In the statement, they are expected to lay out their goal of denuclearizing North Korea in stronger wording, given Pyongyang's recent increasing hostilities despite the international community's warnings.
In February, the Kim Jong-un regime carried out its third nuclear test following a long-range rocket launch in December, believed to be a cover for a test of its nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile technology.
The joint statement is also likely to include the two nations' plan to expand trans-Korean economic cooperation with Russia, such as the North Korea-Russia project of linking railways from Khasan, Russia's eastern border town, to Rajin, a port city of North Korea.
In order to beef up cooperation with Moscow and Pyongyang, Seoul is focused on joining the North Korea-Russia rail project, as well as their plan to revamp the Rajin port.
Cooperation in the plan to connect a gas pipeline from Russia across the Korean Peninsula and the long-discussed project to link the Trans-Siberian Railway with the Trans-Korean Railway are also subjects to be covered in the joint statement.
In the September summit, the two leaders discussed economic cooperation, the North Korean nuclear standoff along with a possibility of railways that will link South Korea through to Europe.
Putin, who took office as Russian president for a historic third term in May last year, is visiting Korea for a third time following his first in 2001, and in 2005 when Korea hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Busan.
Under the Park administration, there have been five foreign leaders of state ― from Uganda, Mozambique, New Zealand, the Philippines and Poland ― to visit Seoul ahead of Putin.
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