Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko visited Seoul, the South Korean Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday, after bitter exchanges between the two countries regarding North Korea.
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Russia's deputy foreign minister in charge of Asia-Pacific met with his counterpart Chung Byung-won on Friday for discussions on the war in Ukraine and bilateral affairs, the South Korean ministry said in a statement. communicated.
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.
His visit comes shortly after a statement by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova that the 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.
Maria 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 preemptive use of nuclear weapons.
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 little more than a pocket change of exchange in Washington's geopolitical games
.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Georgi Zinoviev on Saturday to protest the
"rude and ignorant"
remarks .
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 infringement.
Analysts recently warned that North Korea could test cruise missiles before sending them to Russia for use in Ukraine.
Its leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia in September to meet President Vladimir Putin, who in return is expected to visit Pyongyang.