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Ivanov to visit N Korea to sign new friendship treaty

SEOUL: Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will visit North Korea this week to sign a new friendship treaty between Moscow and Pyongyang to replace their Cold War pact in the first such trip in 10 years, officials said here on Monday.

The February 9 to 10 trip is aimed largely at inking the new treaty to supersede a 1961 one signed between North Korea and the former Soviet Union in 1961, which included a mutual defense pact between the communist allies.

Russia officially declared the 1961 pact invalid in 1995, four years after the demise of the Soviet Union and five years after Seoul set up diplomatic ties with Moscow for the first time.

The new treaty will certainly repeal the mutual defense provision of the original treaty, a Seoul official said.

"Instead, the new treaty will lay out a framework for Russia and North Korea to develop new ties as neighbours, not as military allies," said the official while asking for anonymity.

Under the old treaty, Russia pledged military intervention if war erupted on the Korean peninsula where Seoul and Pyongyang still remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean conflict.

In North Korea, Ivanov is also scheduled to meet Pyongyang leaders, including Kim Yong-Nam, chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, Seoul's Yonhap News Agency said.

No Russian foreign minister has visited North Korea in the decade since then Soviet incumbent Eduard Shevardnadze made a trip in September, 1990.

Ivanov will fly to Japan and Vietnam after visiting North Korea. AFP