( RIA Novosti ) - South Korea 's minister of foreign affairs and trade will pay a working visit to Moscow March 5-6 to discuss the nuclear problem on the Korean peninsula, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday.
Song Min-soon will hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov. The two sides will focus on the six-nation talks on the Korean nuclear problem, involving North and South Korea, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia, as well as bilateral relations and international issues.
Russia hailed as a success the latest round of six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear program on February 8- 13 in Beijing , which ended in the adoption of a plan of initial steps on Pyongyang 's nuclear disarmament. Russia , the United States , South Korea and China agreed to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea and North Korea has agreed to shut down its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.
Washington has pledged to strike North Korea off its list of countries sponsoring terrorism and to resolve the issue of financial sanctions against North Korea by the next round of the talks in Beijing , scheduled for March 19.
In September 2005, Pyongyang promised to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees. The negotiations broke off later that year when Washington blocked the regime's $24 million account at a Macao bank over alleged counterfeiting and money laundering. They did not resume until December 2006, two months after North Korea reported carrying out its first nuclear bomb test.
Talks resumed February 8 in Beijing amid hopes for progress toward implementing a September 2005 agreement, in which Pyongyang committed itself to halting its nuclear activities in return for economic and security incentives.
In the month ahead of the next round, negotiators will set up five working groups to help the parties along the way toward implementing the September 2005 agreement.