ROK's top nuclear envoy to visit Russia, EU next week

SEOUL -- The Republic of Korea's top nuclear envoy will visit Russia and Belgium, in which the European Union (EU) is headquartered, next week to discuss the Korean Peninsula situations with his counterparts, according to Seoul's foreign ministry.

The ministry said in a statement Thursday that Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, will visit St. Petersburg, Russia on March 19 to hold talks with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov.

During the meeting, they will exchange opinions about the peninsula situations after the second summit between top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, and discuss ways to cooperate for the complete denuclearization of and lasting peace on the peninsula.

The second Kim-Trump summit ended without agreement in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi in late February.

Lee will later head to Brussels, Belgium for his two-day visit from March 20 to the EU headquarters, where he will attend a session of the EU's Political and Security Committee and meet with Helga Schmid, secretary general of the European External Action Service.

During the visit, the ROK's diplomat will make a discussion with his EU counterpart on cooperative ways for the peninsula's complete denuclearization while sharing assessments on the peninsula situations, the Seoul ministry said.

Lee held talks in Washington last week with Stephen Biegun, the US special envoy for the DPRK.