HONOLULU -- South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Russian President Vladimir Putin held telephone talks on Friday to discuss questions of bilateral relations and regional issues, including the denuclearization of North Korea.
"The phone conversation began at 9:05 a.m. (local time) and lasted 18 minutes. Roh offered his congratulations to Putin on the Russian city of Sochi winning the rights to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and wished for the success of the games," Roh's spokesman Cheon Ho-seon said.
"The two leaders praised each other's country for doing the best in the competition to choose the host of the Olympics. In particular, Putin expected the 2014 Winter Olympics to further bilateral relations and invited South Korean firms to actively participate in the construction of infrastructure facilities in Sochi," said Cheon.
Roh positively assessed Russia's role in Northeast Asia's multilateral security dialogue and the six-party talks on disabling the North Korean nuclear program. He expected that progress in the six-party talks would further enhance South Korea-Russia cooperation.
"The two leaders promised to meet again at the summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum scheduled to take place in Sydney, Australia, in September," Cheon said.
Roh arrived here Thursday from Guatemala, where he had campaigned for PyeongChang's bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics at an annual conference of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The South Korean mountain resort city lost its bid to Sochi.