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Choi Ryong-hae, (North) Korean People's Army political bureau chief and secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea will soon be visiting Russia as a special envoy for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Nov. 14.

With the two countries expected to broach the idea of Kim Jong-un visiting Russia as well, one question is whether Kim’s first summit since rising to power will be held with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Considering that Choi is visiting Russia as Kim’s special envoy, chances are high that he will meet with Putin. Even North Korean Defense Minister Hyon Yong-chol - who is lower in rank than Choi - met Putin when he visited Russia on Nov. 8 to attend the 90th birthday party of Dmitry Yazov, former defense minister for the Soviet Union.

With Putin planning to attend the G-20 summit scheduled to take place in Brisbane, Australia, on Nov. 15 and 16, it is likely that his meeting with Choi will take place next week.

The primary objective of Choi’s visit to Russia appears to be sounding out the possibility of a summit between North Korea and Russia and hammering out an agenda for such a meeting. While North Korea’s relations with China are strained, North Korea and Russia have continued to expand economic cooperation and exchange between high-ranking government officials.

Pier No. 3 at Rajin Port in North Korea was completed in July of this year as a joint venture with Russia, and in October they started paying for bilateral trade in rubles, the Russian currency.

North Korea was also one of only 11 countries to cast a vote against a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly in Mar. 2014 opposing Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

“North Korea will probably try to use Choi Ryong-hae’s visit to Russia to upgrade bilateral relations from their current level of economic cooperation to a strategic level. Naturally, the culmination of this would be Kim Jong-un visiting Russia himself,” said Chang Yong-seok, senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University.

North Korea’s courting of Russia can be seen as an attempt to strengthen its diplomatic position by taking advantage of the conflict between the US and Russia caused by the crisis in Ukraine.

In September, Kang Sok-ju, who oversees international affairs for the Workers’ Party of (North) Korea, traveled to Europe and Mongolia. At the same time, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong has been seeking to diversify Pyongyang’s foreign policy through visits to Iran, the US, and Russia.

In particular, as North Korea emphasizes its warming relations with Russia - which has been China’s rival before and could be so again - it seems to be hinting that Beijing should take steps to improve its relations with Pyongyang.

At the same time, Putin has launched a new policy for the Russian Far East, designed to bolster Russian power in Northeast Asia, as part of his efforts to build a “strong Russia.”

With the Americans and Chinese becoming more and more dominant in Northeast Asia, Russia essentially needs North Korea as leverage to maintain and increase its influence in the region.

By Yi Yong-in, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]