SEOUL (Reuters) – Senior officials of South Korea and the United States held an emergency phone call over a possible impending visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to North Korea, Seoul’s foreign ministry said on Friday.
South Korea’s vice foreign minister, Kim Hong-kyun, in the phone call with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, said that Putin’s visit should not result in deeper military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, the ministry said.
Echoing Kim’s concerns, Campbell pledged continued cooperation to tackle potential regional instability and challenges caused by the trip.
A senior official at Seoul’s presidential office said on Wednesday that Putin was expected to visit North Korea “in the coming days”.
(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Gerry Doyle)
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