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| President Moon Jae-in, right, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the start of their summit held in a downtown hotel in the western Japanese city of Osaka, early Saturday. Yonhap |
By Kim Yoo-chul
OSAKA, Japan _ North Korea would dismantle its nuclear program in return for a security guarantee and receiving sanctions concessions, Russian President Vladimir Putin told South Korean President Moon Jae-in at their summit held in this western Japanese city, early Saturday.
"Citing his April summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Russian President Vladimir Putin told President Moon that the North's leader would abandon his regime's nuclear program but as long as there was a firm guarantee of the security of his regime and actual concessions for denuclearization," Cheong Wa Dae deputy spokesman Han Jeong-woo told reporters in a briefing following the meeting.
The Russian leader also hailed Seoul's recent decision to send 50,000 tons of rice to the North as humanitarian assistance, Han said, stressing the Kremlin is committed to backing diplomatic efforts for peace on the Korean Peninsula.
"Moon asked Putin to visit Seoul as early as possible for thorough discussions on multiple issues of mutual interest. In response, Putin said he would review the suggestion, actively and positively," the deputy spokesman said.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of their participation in this year's G20 Summit. President Moon waited about two hours for his meeting with the Russian president. Han said South Korea accepted the request for a delay in the meeting, without elaborating further.
In April, Putin and Kim promised to forge stronger ties at their summit in the Russian city of Vladivostok, where the Russian leader also offered to help break the deadlock in the North's denuclearization talks with the United States.
Putin's acknowledgment of Seoul providing food aid to the impoverished North came a few hours after U.S. special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun told his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon that Washington wants to make progress with Pyongyang "simultaneously and in parallel." Analysts noted that this suggested a possible softening of Washington's hardline stance for an upfront, "one shot deal," which derailed February's summit between the two sides in Hanoi.
Other than North Korea-related issues, the leaders agreed to boost partnerships in various industrial sectors. Total bilateral trade volume last year jumped 31 percent from 2017, while the number of visitors to each other's country rose to a historica-high of about 700,000.
