BFF-54 Kremlin ‘hopes’ Kim will visit Russia next year: aide

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Kremlin ‘hopes’ Kim will visit Russia next year: aide

MOSCOW, Nov 7, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Moscow hopes that North Korean leader Kim
Jong Un will visit the country next year, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s
advisor said on Wednesday.

“I hope this visit will be possible next year,” Kremlin foreign policy
advisor Yuri Ushakov said, Russian news agencies reported.

He did not confirm recent reports by South Korean media that Kim could
visit Russia this month.

Last month, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he believed the
youthful North leader could visit Russia “soon.”

Moscow has repeatedly invited Kim to visit Russia but he has yet to
respond to the offer to meet Putin.

The rapid diplomatic thaw on the Korean Peninsula since the Winter
Olympics has seen Kim meet with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in
twice, as well as Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump.

In June, Trump and Kim signed a vaguely-worded agreement on
denuclearisation but little progress has been made since then.

BSS/AFP/FI/ 2000 hrs