Russian ambassador hopes for improved ties with Seoul

Georgy Zinoviev, the Russian ambassador in Seoul, told South Korean lawmakers on Wednesday that although the relations between the two countries were going through a difficult time, he believed they would improve in the future.

“I would like to take this opportunity to say that even though South Korea and Russia are going through a rough patch at this moment, I believe there is still a lot of potential for expanding cooperation and resuming dialogue in the future,” he said, speaking at a forum hosted at the National Assembly in Seoul.

He delivered the remarks in Russian, that were consecutively interpreted in Korean.

Moscow’s top envoy said that since South Korea and Russia established diplomatic ties in 1990, the bilateral relationship has “flourished across various fields.”

“I would like to stress that the parliaments of the two countries have traditionally played a constructive role in our relations. For the last two weeks, I have visited the National Assembly three times,” he said.

The National Assembly and the Federal Assembly “still have an important role to play,” he added.

“I hope that today’s event will make a significant contribution to exploring opportunities for cooperation at the parliamentary level, and to managing our bilateral relations on a stable basis -- of which communication is an integral part.”

The Russian ambassador was invited to an Assembly forum comprising 12 lawmakers of main and minor opposition parties, to speak at its inaugural session on Seoul-Moscow relations.

The Assembly forum on foreign affairs was founded by Rebuilding Korea Party Rep. Kim Joon-hyung, who served as the director of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy from 2019 to 2021.

In his opening remarks, Kim said he planned the session -- titled “Diplomat’s Lounge” -- to be a three-way conversation among South Korean lawmakers, experts and the Russian ambassador.

“I hope this session will be a chance for an in-depth conversation to take place at this crucial time,” he said. “Thanks to the ambassador for accepting the invitation to be our first guest speaker.”

The remainder of the session, which lasted for about an hour and a half, proceeded behind closed doors. Some of the issues discussed during the closed-door part of the session included the war in Ukraine and the South Korean administration’s policies concerning Russia, according to Kim.

Wednesday’s session was attended by Rebuilding Korea Party’s Kim and Rep. Lee Hai-min of the same party, Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Ko Min-jung, and Progressive Party spokesperson Rep. Jung Hye-kyung.