South Korea courts isolated North’s old friends in push for change

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se (2nd R) exchanges documents with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov (L) during a memorandum of understanding signing ceremony in the presence of South Korean President Park Geun-hye (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the presidential Blue House in Seoul 13 November 2013

Reuters: South Korea’s foreign minister will visit Moscow next week after touring Cuba, Uganda and Iran as part of a push to enlist North Korea’s old allies to press for change in the isolated state, Seoul said on Tuesday.

North Korea has come under growing diplomatic pressure since its January nuclear test and a space rocket launch in February, which led to a new U.N. Security Council resolution in March tightening sanctions against Pyongyang.

The minister’s visit to Russia following Iran, Uganda and Cuba is part of diplomatic efforts to enlist the international community to the effort to bring about change in North Korea on all fronts, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck told a briefing.

South Korea said last week that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has pledged to halt security and military cooperation with North Korea, following a summit in Kampala with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se visited Cuba, a first for the country’s top diplomat, and held talks with his counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez, at the weekend. South Korean media said Yun conveyed Seoul’s hope for establishing diplomatic ties with Havana.

In May, Park made the first visit to Iran by a South Korean leader in the hope of broadening political and commercial ties after Iran emerged from years of economic sanctions in January.

Cho also said Poland had stopped issuing visas for North Korean workers amid concern that Pyongyang may be subjecting them to conditions that violated their human rights.

An official at the Polish embassy in Seoul said Poland had not issued any work visas for North Korean citizens this year, in reaction to the North’s nuclear test and rocket launch at the beginning of the year.