SEOUL, The chief nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold talks in Seoul this week on North Korea's latest military provocations amid its growing ties with Russia, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. Kim Gunn, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, will meet with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Jung Pak and Hiroyuki Namazu, respectively, for three-way talks Thursday. Kim will also hold separate bilateral talks with Pak earlier that day and with Namazu on Wednesday. The three "plan to share their assessments of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, including North Korea's recent provocations and escalating tensions, its military cooperation and exchanges with Russia, and discuss measures to respond," ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk said in a press briefing. The planned talks come as North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui was set to hold talks with her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow on Tuesday. Kremlin said it intends to further develop its partnership with Pyongyang "in all areas." Choe's visit came amid concerns the North has been providing weapons to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine in return for Moscow's technical assistance in advanced arms development. On Sunday, the North test-fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile into the East Sea, in its first ballistic missile launch this year, after the firings of artillery shells near the western sea border on Jan. 5 and 7. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called in a key parliamentary meeting Monday for stipulating in its constitution that South Korea is an "invariable principal enemy," warning he will not avoid war if he has to. The upcoming talks among the nuclear envoys will also mark the first of its kind since Pak, previously the deputy U.S. nuclear envoy, took over the post from Sung Kim, with the new title of "senior official for the DPRK." The DPRK is the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Source: Yonhap News Agency
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