By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
A first meeting between the current North and South Korean leaders remains up in the air, as the South’s presidential office was coy Thursday over a possible trip to Russia this May.
President Park Geun-hye’s spokesperson told reporters that she has a schedule conflict around the time that Russia is set to celebrate 70 years since the former Soviet Union’s World War II victory over Nazi Germany.
Moscow will host a ceremony in honor of the occasion May 9 – with key regional leaders invited, including China’s Xi Jinping, Japan’s Shinzo Abe and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.
A clear sign that Kim will be in attendance was offered Wednesday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as he told reporters that “a positive signal” had been given.
Lavrov echoed similar claims made earlier this month by a South Korean diplomatic source based in China.
Unlike the widely-travelled Park, Kim has not been abroad since he inherited power upon the death of his father in 2011.
Talks over an official meeting between the Koreas’ leaders have failed to get off the ground since both expressed willingness in their respective New Year’s addresses to repeat the breakthrough inter-Korean summits of 2000 and 2007.
Russia’s May ceremony at least offers an opportunity for a first informal encounter between Kim and Park.
Barring the United States, it could also bring together the leaders of all the countries involved in the stalled Six Party Talks that North Korea abandoned in 2009.
The Koreas technically remain at war after an armistice, rather than a peace treaty, brought the Korean War to a close.
