Moon-Putin summit due today
President Moon Jae-in and his wife Kim Jung-sook, left, attend a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, June 21, 2018. / AP
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Russian President Vladimir Putin were set to hold a bilateral summit Friday to discuss ways to enhance their countries' cooperation and joint efforts to peacefully denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
The South Korea-Russia summit follows Moon's two historic meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in which the leaders of the two Koreas declared there will never be another war on the Korean Peninsula while affirming their commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Moon has stressed the importance of Russia's cooperation in efforts to rid the North of its nuclear weapons. Russia has been part of six-nation negotiations on ending the North's nuclear ambition.
"Now the North and the U.S. have removed their long hostile relations and made a historic transition toward a new peace system," Moon said of the outcome of the U.S.-North Korea summit held in Singapore last week.
"I think what is left now is how completely and swiftly we implement such a wonderful agreement," he said in a recent interview with Russian news outlets to mark his first state visit to Russia. He is currently on a three-day visit that began Thursday.
The Moon-Putin summit will mark the third of its kind since the South Korean president took office in May 2017. They first met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit held in Germany in July. They met again in September when Moon visited Russia's Vladivostok to take part in the annual Eastern Economic Forum there.
"President Putin and I share the common goal of completely denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and establishing a peace regime," Moon has said.
Following their private talks, Moon and Putin will be joined by other ranking officials from both countries for an expanded summit.
They will then hold a joint press conference, which will later be followed by a state dinner to be hosted by the Russian president.
Moon will head to Russia's southern port city of Rostov-on-Don on Saturday to watch the FIFA World Cup match between his country and Mexico. (Yonhap)