By Kang Seung-woo
Growing signs of closer ties between North Korea and Russia may further chill inter-Korean relations, analysts said Wednesday.
Choe Ryong-hae, a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, met with Russian President Vladmir Putin, Tuesday, and delivered a personal message from Kim, according to the Kremlin.
“Closer relations between North Korea and Russia can undermine the necessity for dialogue with South Korea,” Professor Kim Yong-hyun at Dongguk University said.
“The more Pyongyang strengthens relations with the international community, the less room for diplomatic maneuvering Seoul has.”
Choe’s trip to Moscow marked the third visit there this year by a high-ranking North Korean official, following those of Kim Yong-nam, the president of the country’s parliament, and Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong, in February and October, respectively.
Seoul sees the visit as part of the North’s efforts to reach out to Russia for diplomatic and other support amid its souring relations with China, its major patron.
“The closer ties can provide the North a way to exit diplomatic isolation,” said Chang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University.
“It is worrisome as the North may start to ignore inter-Korean issues. Should it continue expanding international relations, the South’s leverage with the North will diminish.”
Choe’s visit to Russia has drawn a lot of attention over the possibility that Kim might attempt to visit there in a bid to find a breakthrough from the country’s diplomatic isolation.
Experts said the recent visit is also related to the United Nations adoption of a resolution against North Korea’s alleged abuses of human rights.
Pyongyang has been desperate to ask Moscow, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, to support its stance on the issue with the international community.
An Chan-il, the head of the World Institute for North Korea Studies, said that the meeting between Putin and Choe may lead the South Korean government to make an effort to reach out to the North.
Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said Tuesday that the South is willing to take part in talks with the North, including the reopening of the suspended Mount Geumgang tours.
In 2008, a female South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier and since then, tours have been on hold, with few solutions to the suspension in sight.
There was a reconciliatory move on the Korean Peninsula in October, when three top-ranking North Korean officials visited Incheon and held a high-level meeting for the first time in seven years.
However, the peaceful atmosphere was short-lived as the two Koreas subsequently exchanged fire twice near the inter-Korean sea and land borders.
The closed-door meeting between Choe and Putin reportedly lasted for about an hour.