Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh on Tuesday visited Pyongyang to hold discussions with his counterparts in North Korea, The Wire reported quoting sources. The development comes the day Pyongyang threatened to scuttle a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and United States President Donald Trump, scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, after a joint military exercise between Washington and Seoul.
On Tuesday, Indian ambassador Atul Gotsurve submitted his credentials to North Korean President Kim Yong Nam, KCNA Watch reported. The Ministry of External Affairs has not yet released a statement on Singh’s visit.
A report on North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said the US-South Korea air drills were a provocation that countered the positive political development in the Korean Peninsula, Reuters reported.
In October, India had told the United States that it will not shut its embassy in North Korea after Washington called on nations to impose curbs on Pyongyang.
On March 7, India said it had imposed new restrictions on trade with North Korea, in line with the United Nations sanctions on the country to deter its nuclear programme. Before imposing the curbs, India was North Korea’s second biggest trading partner after China.
On April 28, New Delhi had welcomed the inter-Korean Summit meeting held at Panmunjom on 27 April 2018. At the summit, Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in had vowed to end the Korean War. The two countries have maintained a ceasefire since 1953, when hostilities ceased.
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