After a dispute over North Korea with Seoul, Russian diplomacy visits South Korea

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko visited Seoul, the South Korean Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday February 4, after bitter exchanges between the two countries regarding North Korea.

North Korean missile test shown on South Korean television. South Korean officials have conveyed Seoul's criticism to the Russians over growing military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. AFP - ANTHONY WALLACE

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Andrei Rudenko, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister in charge of Asia-Pacific, met his counterpart Chung Byung-won in Seoul on Friday February 2 for discussions on the war in Ukraine and bilateral affairs , the

South Korean

ministry said

in a press release on February 4. The South Korean official voiced Seoul's criticism of growing military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang and urged Russia to take " 

responsible actions 

," according to the statement.

“ 

Brazen

U.S.

Policy  ”

His visit comes shortly after a statement by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova that increased tension on the Korean Peninsula was " 

primarily due to the brazen policies of the United States and its allies, including the Republic of Korea and Japan

 ", referring to South Korea by its official name. Zakharova was responding to a question about South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's recent description of

North Korea

as the only country in the world to have legislated the preventive use of nuclear weapons.

In the same remarks, she also said that Seoul "

 does not seem to realize that the dominant position of the

United

States is irrevocably becoming a thing of the past 

", and that the South " 

may turn out to be nothing more than 'a small bargaining chip in Washington's geopolitical games

 .' The South Korean Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Georgi Zinoviev on Saturday to protest the “

 rude and ignorant

 ” remarks.

Cruise missiles for Russia

Since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has forged closer ties with Pyongyang, which South Korea and Washington accuse of supplying weapons to Moscow to help the war effort. Nuclear-armed North Korea this year declared Seoul its “

primary enemy 

,” closed agencies dedicated to reunification, and threatened war for “ 

even 0.001 millimeters 

” of territorial infraction.

Analysts recently warned that North Korea could test cruise missiles before sending them to Russia for use against Ukraine. Its leader Kim Jong-un visited Russia in September to meet President Vladimir Putin, who in return is expected to visit Pyongyang.

(

With AFP

)

Read alsoNorth Korea carries out a fourth cruise missile launch in ten days

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