North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui will hold rare trilateral consultations with her Chinese and Russian counterparts in Moscow on Tuesday, in what is viewed as an effort to reaffirm their shared stance on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

According to Russia’s Tass news agency, Choe and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov will hold a bilateral meeting Monday, which will be closely followed by a trilateral consultation involving the two and China’s Vice Minister Kong Xuanyou on Tuesday.

The talks are expected to focus on North Korea’s denuclearization and efforts to improve the inter-Korean relationship, according to Tass. 

Though the exact itinerary was not revealed, Choe arrived in Moscow late Saturday, following her two-day trip in Beijing, and is expected to stay in Russia at least until Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited North Korea on Sunday following a visit to Tokyo. In Pyongyang, Pompeo met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un where he was expected to push forward the stalled denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang. On Sunday evening, Pompeo was expected to meet with President Moon Jae-in and his South Korean counterpart Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha. Pompeo is scheduled to fly to Beijing on Tuesday.

While the chain of diplomatic events is a sign of progress in US-North Korea negotiations, it is also represents Pyongyang’s diplomatic efforts to mitigate the layers of international sanctions against the regime through the support of its neighbors, experts said. A tripartite negotiation among North Korea, China and Russia is considered a rare event and has not been seen publicly since the North’s leader Kim Jong-un rose to power in 2011.

“Choe’s visit to Russia and the tripartite meeting is a move to further coordinate and strengthen their voices on sanctions alleviation on Pyongyang,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

China and Russia officially highlighted the need to ease the economically crippling North Korea sanctions at the UN General Assembly last month.

The agreement reached between the two leaders of the divided Koreas at the Sept. 18-20 summit in Pyongyang states the North is “willing to dismantle” for good its Yongbyon nuclear complex if the US takes corresponding measures, feeding speculations North Korea wants sanctions alleviation from the US in exchange for the dismantlement.

According to Yang, the idea of reviving the long-stalled six-party talks is also likely to be raised at Tuesday’s discussion, though for now, sanctions alleviation will be the main agenda item at the meeting.

Last month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recalled the idea of the deadlocked talks to the UN Security Council, saying “all stakeholders have the responsibility to make their own efforts to this end,” though the main parties involved in the denuclearization process are North Korea and the US.

“The upcoming meeting will also serve as a chance for the three to form a team in case the six-party talks resume,” Yang said.

“But for now, the US seems to be reluctant towards reviving the talks, and further progress in denuclearization talks, along with an end-of-war declaration and normalization of US-North Korea ties need to come first.”

By Jung Min-kyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)