SEOUL: The US spy chief Avril Haines will visit South Korea to meet President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula said a news report on Thursday.
Haines during a meeting with Yoon will talk about the deepening Russia-North Korea ties and Pyongyang’s provocative measures, the Joongang Ilbo daily reported, quoting an unnamed national security official.
The official was quoted as saying the meeting will be unofficial and there is no plan to make their talks public. Yoon’s office refused to confirm the report.
North Korea on Thursday said it had successfully tested a missile that can carry multiple warheads striking different targets under an objective set by its leader Kim Jong Un.
Russian President and Kim signed a mutual defence pact, during Putin’s first visit to North Korea in 24 years, alarming officials in Seoul and Washington amid accusations that Pyongyang has been supplying weapons to Russia to fight Ukraine. Moscow and Pyongyang deny such reports.
After the signing of the military pact by Putin and Kim, South Korea said it would review the possibility of supplying weapons directly to Ukraine, reversing a position it had kept despite pressure from the West and Washington.
South Korea in recent years has emerged as a major exporter of arms, aiming to become the world’s fourth-largest weapons supplier.
