>From: "Mrs. Jela Jovanovic, Secretary General" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Putin asks Duma to ratify North Korea treaty > >MOSCOW, June 24 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will next >month become the first Kremlin leader ever to visit North Korea, asked >parliament on Saturday to ratify a new friendship treaty with the secretive >Stalinist state. Putin asked the State Duma, Russia's lower house, to ratify the treaty which was signed by Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on a visit to Pyongyang on February 9, replacing a Cold-War-era mutual defence pact. > >The Soviet Union was a major patron of Communist North Korea. But Russia >recognised capitalist South Korea in 1990 and has since developed strong trade >relations with Seoul that have tended to overshadow its ties with Pyongyang. > >Russia, however, remains one of the only countries with extensive diplomatic >representation in Pyongyang and Putin has said Moscow intends to play an >important diplomatic role on the divided peninsula. > >No Soviet or Russian leader has ever visited Pyongyang and Putin's trip there >next month will give the outside world another chance to glimpse North Korea, >after South Korean President Kim Dae-jung's historic visit last week. __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
