Addressing the National Assembly, President Putin praised the mature partnership achieved in Russian-Korean relations. He laid down the Russian position of benefiting from the potential of contacts with South and North Korea to promote rapprochement between the two Koreas.
Later in the day, the Russian President met with the Grand National Party’s honorary president, Lee Hwe-chang, a representative of the South Korean opposition, and said he was pleased to talk not only to government officials but to the opposition leader as well. Relations between Russia and the Republic of Korea should not depend on which party is in power, he said.
See also
State Visit to the Republic of Korea
February 27 − 28, 2001