Russia to promote inter-Korean dialogue during forum in St. Petersburg

Russia will promote the dialogue between the delegations of North and South Korea as part of the 2nd Eurasian Women’s Forum to be held in St. Petersburg, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said in an interview with the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily.

"I was glad to learn that a decision has been made to send a women’s delegation led by deputy North Korean parliament speaker, Ri Hye Jong. I talked to her, we had a conversation, she is looking forward to attending the Eurasian Women’s Forum," said Matviyenko, who returned from an official visit to North Korea earlier this week.

"Of course, the South Korean delegation will also come. I hope that there will be an opportunity to organize a contact on the level of representatives of the two Koreas. The North Korean parliament is ready to start a dialogue with the parliament of South Korea. We will also assist it," she added.

Matviyenko said that since 2005, North Korea’s political rhetoric has changed from belligerent to peaceful, and the Communist state has become more open to inter-parliamentary contacts in recent years.

"I saw great changes, first of all in the political rhetoric: it used to be belligerent and now it is peaceful. The atmosphere has evolved from confrontation to creation. It all confirms that the country’s leadership and the chairman of the North Korean State Council [Kim Jong Un] are serious in their intention to forge peace on the Korean Peninsula," Matviyenko said in an interview with the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily, published on Friday.

She said that North Korea was set to achieve peace not through saber-rattling and development of ballistic technologies, but through political and diplomatic means, through the dialogue with South Korea, the United States and the global community.

"This could be felt during the military parade, in which only defensive military equipment took part, and also in contacts, in conversations with our fellow parliamentarians. In other words, the atmosphere in the country is different now," the Russian senator said.

She also said that North Korea has intensified its inter-parliamentary contacts on the international level.

"Earlier, delegations of the Supreme People's Assembly almost never took part in parliamentary forums. They did not respond to our invitations. The situation is totally different now: we have had a considerable number of contacts in the past two or three years, both in terms of our visits to North Korea and their visits to us," she continued. "They demonstrate their openness and readiness to cooperate."

Matviyenko paid an official to North Korea late last week. She took part in events to commemorate the 70th anniversary of establishing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. She also said that she planned to visit South Korea this autumn.