By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is expected to pay a visit to Russia and meet President Dmitry Medvedev in the eastern city of Vladivostok, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, however, denied knowledge of such a meeting.
Kim had earlier visited Russia in 2002, when he met current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who was then the president.
The leaders are now expected to discuss economic cooperation and security.
The North Korean nuclear issue is a hot topic between the two nations. Russia is a member of the six-party talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. The talks came to a halt in April 2009 when North Korea walked out of negotiations to protest the UN’s condemnation of its ballistic missile tests.