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Ivanov in N Korea on high-level diplomatic visit

MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov started a visit to Communist North Korea on Wednesday and was due to sign a new friendship pact, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported from Pyongyang.

"This treaty will open a new page in our relations," Tass, one of the few foreign news agencies represented in North Korea, quoted Ivanov as saying on arrival. It said Ivanov laid wreaths at the memorial to late North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung and at a memorial to Soviet soldiers who died in Korea fighting Japanese troops during World War Two.

The treaty to be signed during the first top-level Russian visit to North Korea in a decade will replace a Soviet-era mutual aid pact.

Pyongyang was an important Soviet ally in Asia, but bilateral relations were badly strained when Moscow established diplomatic relations with South Korea in 1990. Seoul is now a major trading partner.

The new treaty, aimed at healing bilateral ties, omits provisions which made Moscow and Pyongyang political and military allies under the old pact.

Ivanov will also visit Japan and Vietnam as a part of his Asian tour.-Reuters