DPRK to send special envoy to Russia

PYONGYANG - Choe Ryong Hae, a member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, will soon visit Russia as a special envoy of top leader Kim Jong Un, the official KCNA news agency reported Friday.

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But it did not reveal the exact date of the visit.

On Oct. 28, Russia's Far East Development Minister Alexander Galushka said Russian private investors would invest 25 billion US dollars to upgrade infrastructure and 3,500-km railroads in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in exchange for access to the country's natural resources.

The two countries planned to set up a business council in the near future and also agreed "in principle" to scrap visas for each other's citizens, Galushka said.

Russian Foreign Ministry said in September that Moscow and Pyongyang would make joint efforts to boost bilateral constructive cooperation in all fields.

On Oct. 21, the DPRK held a ground-breaking ceremony for remodeling its Jaedong-Kangdong-Nampho railway at the East Pyongyang Railway Station with the help of Russia, according to the KCNA.

The DPRK has acted to break diplomatic isolation, with a focus on improving its relations with not only neighboring countries like Russia, Japan and Mongolia but also countries in as far as Europe and Africa.

In late October, Kim Yong Nam, chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, concluded his African tour, visiting Ethiopia, Sudan, Congo and Uganda to boost ties.

Also late last month, a Japanese government mission paid a four-day visit to the DPRK at its invitation to learn about the probe into the abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s.

The DPRK side has promised to deepen the investigation and will deliver a report on the latest round of investigation by year-end, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a lower house committee on Oct. 31.

Related: Russia to build railroads, power lines in DPRK