South Korea has expressed deep concern over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to North Korea and asked China to play a constructive role, saying tensions from strengthened military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang are not in Beijing’s interest, the foreign ministry said.

South Korea conveyed the stance to China during their “two plus two” security talks led by First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong in Seoul on Tuesday, hours before Putin arrived in the North Korean capital for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“We expressed deep concern that Russian President Putin’s visit to North Korea comes at a time when North Korea has escalated tensions on the Korean Peninsula with a series of provocations,” the ministry said in a statement.

“We asked China to play a constructive role for peace, stability and denuclearization as Korean Peninsula tensions arising from the strengthening of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea go ag
ainst China’s interests,” it said.

Putin and the North’s leader were set to hold a summit in Pyongyang on Wednesday to discuss ways to upgrade their bilateral ties to a new level amid concerns about deepening military cooperation.

Russia and North Korea have been bolstering military ties, with the North being accused of supplying Russia with ammunition for use in Moscow’s war in Ukraine in exchange for aid and suspected technological assistance for its space program.

Putin’s trip to North Korea — the first in 24 years — came amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula due to the North’s continued provocative acts, such as launches of trash-carrying balloons across the border and attempts to disrupt GPS signals around the South’s northwestern border islands in recent weeks.

South Korean officials also asked China to ensure North Korean defectors in China are not forcibly returned and can go to their desired destinations, the ministry said.

As Pyongyang’s key ally, China does not recognize North Kor
ean defectors as refugees and regularly repatriates them to their home country, where they could face harsh punishment.

Last year, South Korean human rights groups said China forcibly sent hundreds of North Korean defectors from its northeastern border regions back to the North.

In response, China reaffirmed that its policy toward the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged and committed to playing a constructive role in resolving the peninsula’s issues.

The ministry said the two sides also discussed issues on Ukraine and Sino-U.S. relations, though it did not provide any details.

South Korea and China held similar diplomatic and security meetings involving senior working-level officials in 2013 and 2015, but failed to do so afterward as bilateral relations were strained.

Holding the two plus two talks was part of the agreement reached between the two countries when President Yoon Suk Yeol met one-on-one with Chinese Premier Li Qiang for talks on the margins of the trilateral summit with Japan late last month
.

Source: Yonhap News Agency