Valentina Matviyenko to pay official visit to N. Korea

Federation Council Chair Valentina Matviyenko will embark on an official visit to North Korea on Friday, the press service of the Russian parliament’s upper chamber said in a statement.

"Upon instructions from the Russian president, I will represent our country at festive events to mark the 70th anniversary of creating the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea," the statement quoted Matviyenko as saying.

She is scheduled to meet with Supreme People's Assembly (North Korean parliament) Speaker Choe Thae Bok and President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong Nam.

Matviyenko will lead the Federation Council delegation that includes International Affairs Committee Chair Konstantin Kosachev, Defense and Security Committee Chair Viktor Bondarev, Regulations Committee Chair Andrei Kutepov, Federative, Regional and Local Policies and North Affairs Committee Chair Oleg Melnichenko and Irkutsk Region Governor Sergei Levchenko.

The Soviet Union was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with North Korea in 1948. The republic’s 70th anniversary will be celebrated on September 9.