North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to help convey North Korea's view of the denuclearisation process to China and the United States, South Korean media reported on Monday, citing the country's National Intelligence Service (NIS).
"Russia sided with the U.S. on the North's denuclearisation, but Moscow understood Pyongyang's stance on how to implement the denuclearisation. That means North Korea and Russia seemed to have a common ground for a phased, incremental approach to the North's nuclear disarmament," NIS said during a briefing with the South Korean parliament's intelligence committee.
Lee Hye-hoon, the head of the intelligence committee, in turn, expressed doubt that Russia would be able to make a real difference in denuclearisation talks amid the existing sanctions.
"Russia may have created certain conditions for itself to intervene in the Korean Peninsula issue, but under the current sanctions system, Moscow has little part to play," Lee was quoted as saying by the outlet.