A South Korean special envoy has met with a top North Korean official in Moscow during a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, diplomatic sources here said Sunday.
Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the ruling Saenuri Party encountered Kim Yong-nam, North Korea's ceremonial head of state, during the Saturday ceremony in Moscow's Red Square, they said. Kim attended the ceremony on behalf of leader Kim Jong-un.
Yoon and Kim exchanged just pleasantries during the short encounter, the sources said, without elaborating.
As the special envoy for President Park Geun-hye, Yoon left for Moscow on Friday.
Yoon, who doubles as one of Park's special advisers for political affairs, has called for "active, disclosed, behind-the-scene contacts with North Korea" to find a breakthrough in the inter-Korean relations.
"I have no plan (to meet with Kim Yong-nam in Moscow). But if there is a chance to contact the North Korean side, I will express the Park government's sincerity on inter-Korean dialogue," Yoon said before departing for Russia. He did not carry any of President Park's messages for North Korea.
After Russia invited Kim Jong-un to the Moscow ceremony earlier this year, the outside world had been closely watching whether Kim would use the stage to make his first overseas appearance since taking power in late 2011.
But the Kremlin said last month that Russia was notified of the North Korean leader's absence through a diplomatic channel, citing North Korea's internal matters.
Kim Yong-nam, the chairman of the Presidium of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, will stay in Moscow from May 8 to 10, according to Russian broadcaster Sputnik.
While in Russia, Yoon is scheduled to hold a meeting with Yury Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser, before returning home on Tuesday, according to government officials here. (Yonhap)
