By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter




Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a summit with President Roh Moo-hyun on Nov. 19, a day after his arrival in South Korea, Chong Wa Dae said on Friday.
The meeting will take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which will be held for two days in Pusan (Busan) beginning Nov. 18.

The summit could provide the two countries with an opportunity to magnify the ``substantial’’ and ``reciprocal’’ relationship, which was agreed on in September 2004 when Roh visited Moscow, presidential spokesman Kim Man-soo said.

After holding the summit, the two leaders will give a joint news conference. Roh also plans to host a dinner for Putin.

Putin’s visit to South Korea is the second since February 2001. Roh visited Moscow last May and in September 2004. The Russian president will depart for Japan on Nov. 20.

The presidential office in Seoul said one of the main agenda items, which the two leaders will address, is how to resolve North Korea’s nuclear issue.

``The two leaders will discuss issues of mutual interest, including ways of peacefully resolving the North Korean nuclear standoff and promoting peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia,’’ Kim said.

Putin is not the only leader Roh plans to meet for discussions about the nuclear issue.

Roh’s summit meetings with member countries participating in the six-party talks, which will resume on Nov. 9, have all been settled now, except for two: one with Japan, since Roh’s eyebrows are still raised after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s controversial visit to a war shrine in Tokyo in October; and the other with North Korea, which did not react to Seoul’s repeated invitations for its representatives to come to Pusan.

On Nov. 17, U.S. President George W. Bush will hold a summit with Roh in Kyongju. In a recent interview with The Korea Times, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon said that Roh and Bush will reconfirm their commitment to a peaceful solution of the nuclear deadlock.

Chinese President Hu Jintao’s meeting with Roh on Nov. 16 in Seoul is of special interest, not because it is the first state visit by a Chinese president in a decade, but because Hu will likely brief Roh about the results of his recent visit to Pyongyang.

During Hu’s stay in Pyongyang from Oct. 28 to 30, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who now has fewer allies to depend on, pledged to continue his country’s involvement in the six-party talks.

In addition, the Chinese leader got Kim’s confirmation that North Korea would keep the promises it made at the last round of the talks in September, which included Pyongyang’s abandonment of its nuclear weapons programs, rejoining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and abiding by the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Details of the talks between Hu and Kim are not known. But such a high-profile visit to Pyongyang implies that China, host of the six-party talks, has confidence in the continuation of the denuclearization process and that the Chinese leader might have tried to come to South Korea with something important to talk about in front of the 20 other Asia-Pacific leaders.

im@koreatimes.co.kr