문 대통령 러시아 국빈방문 "러시아, 정치적, 경제적 평화정착 역할 기대"

President Moon Jae-in and his Russian counterpart will have a lot to discuss when they meet.
The liberal leader's state visit to that country was planned earlier this year, and since then, a lot has transpired.
Our chief Cheongwadae correspondent Moon Connyoung explains further. With relatively equal relationship with South and North Korea, Russia's role in the context of resolving the North Korean nuclear challenge may not be front and center, but it is definitely central... and the South Korean government well recognizes that.

As President Moon Jae-in gears up for his four-day, two-night state visit to the world's largest country by area... at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin this week, Seoul's top office highlighted its key role at this time of rapid change in geopolical landscape surrounding the Korean Peninsula.

"As the Korean Peninsula moves towards denuclearization and peace is developed, we anticipate the President's visit to Russia to serve as an opportunity to strengthen strategic communication and collaboration between South Korea and Russia and boost practical cooperation and peaceful prosperity in Northeast Asia."

During his three days spent on Russian soil, the South Korean leader will deliver a speech before the Duma, becoming the first South Korean president to address the lower house of Russia's Federal Assembly, meet with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev... sit down for a one-on-one with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, for the third time since taking office... and attend a state dinner.
President Moon will also meet with South Koreans living in Russia as well as with businessmen from both countries before flying down to the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.
There, Mr. Moon will bring out the "Red Devil" in him - cheering for the South Korean squad as they take on Mexico in their Match two of the FIFA World Cup finals
before wrapping up the first state visit by a sitting South Korean president to Russia since 1999.

As much as the visit will be focused on the current thaw in relations with Pyongyang and the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump... especially as the South Korean president's Moscow visit comes on the heels of a senior North Korean official, Kim Yong-nam's meeting with Mr. Putin days earlier, Presidents Moon and Putin are also expected to discuss how to enhance substantive bilateral economic cooperation, including the development of future growth engines.

"The recent North Korea, U.S. summit and the inter-Korean summit have created conditions for Russia and South Korea to get started on the preparations work for Seoul, Pyongyang, Moscow three-way cooperation projects; that includes railways, gas pipelines, electricity grids, and the Rajin-Khasan logistics partnership."

Not only that, the two countries have, in the works, a bilateral innovation platform project where Russia's out