This is Pak
Thae-song's first visit to Russia in his capacity as a chairman of the parliament, noted Viacheslav Volodin
Vyacheslav Victorovich
The Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the eighth convocation. Elected in single mandate constituency № 163 (Saratov constituency - Saratov Oblast)
. He expressed hope that this meeting will
contribute to the development of relations between our countries. “We invite
you to pay an official visit to our country again next year because over the past 20 years this is only the third visit of the Speaker of the Parliament of North Korea,” he said.
“It would be right for us to develop inter-parliamentary contacts, to build systemic work within the parliamentary dimension,” the Chairman of the State Duma emphasized.
“We are happy about this progress as it is ours”
The Chairman of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK noted the progress that Russia is making in achieving stability, social consolidation, modernization of the economy and strengthening its defense capability.
“We are happy about this progress as it is ours,” he emphasized and noted that it is particularly impressive that this progress is achieved, despite strict sanctions of Western countries.
“With great attention, we always keep an eye on those steps and measures that the State Duma is taking to protect the Russian national interests, and we always fully support your steps,” said Pak Thae-song. Besides, he stressed that the DPRK pays tribute to the fact that the leadership and parliament of Russia pay great attention to the development and strengthening of relations between our countries, which have a long history and traditions.
Role of country leaders
Chairman of the State Affairs Commission Kim Jong-un attaches great importance to the development of relations between the DPRK and Russia, he stressed. Pak Thae-song reminded that in April Kim Jong-un visited Russia for the first time, ”a very important meeting was held with President Vladimir Putin.“
“At this meeting, our leaders agreed on concrete directions and ways for further expanding of bilateral cooperation in various spheres,” said Pak Thae-song. Thanks to this meeting, a solid foundation was laid for strengthening the strategic cooperation of our countries, he said.
“The Chairman of the State Affairs Commission is committed to continuously develop traditional strategic Russian-Korean relations,” said Pak Thae-song. He expressed hope that the visit will allow reaching agreements.
“The meeting of our leaders did a lot to give an impetus to the development of our relations,” agreed Viacheslav Volodin.
Role of parliaments
“For our part, we need to do everything possible to develop more intensively our inter-parliamentary relations, to make them more effective, and we can discuss issues that concern the citizens of our countries, and did everything possible to develop relations between nations,” the Chairman of the State Duma urged.
To develop relations, “it is necessary to make an exchange of delegations and contacts at various levels between our parliaments permanent,” says Pak Thae-song. He noted that the DPRK supports the enhancing of cooperation at international parliamentary venues.
“We would also like to propose to give a new impetus to the activities of the intergovernmental commission on economic, scientific and technical cooperation, which plays a very important role in the development of bilateral economic ties, and our legislative bodies create legal basis” for increase in the level of trade relations between the Russian Federation and the DPRK, said Pak Thae-song.
Viacheslav Volodin supported this idea. “It would be right to discuss the issues that concern us within the framework of specialized committees, to engage in concrete work that would allow us to achieve a result, and at the same time, for our part, we would support at legislative level the decisions that have been adopted at the level of heads of state,” he said.
Double standards and sanctions policy
“We believe that relations should be based on the principles of mutual respect, non-interference in the sovereign affairs of other states,” the Chairman of the State Duma emphasized. He said that there should be unified approaches between countries without double standards.
“We hope that the time when sanctions are imposed on countries, the time of trade wars will be a thing of the past,” said Viacheslav Volodin.
He noted that the United States of America unleashed trade wars against the Russian Federation, the PRC, the DPRK and Cuba, Venezuela, Turkey, Iran, but the imposed sanctions also damage other countries, the EU countries.
“Perhaps they are only beneficial to the United States, and this is a moot point because it’s better to live and build trade and economic relations in peace and friendship than to engage in such an expansion that brings nothing but tension to the world,” said the Chairman of the State Duma.
Pak Thae-song called these words fair and emphasized that the people of the DPRK are making a progress in building a socialist state, despite strict sanctions against the country.
“Now, instead of responding to our goodwill gestures, on the international arena the United States and the South Korean authorities are advocating for better relations and dialogue, but behind our back they are introducing a large number of new strike weapons, they are conducting joint military exercises, thus annoying our country, their negotiating partner,” said Pak Thae-song.
