SEOUL, South Korea – A top Russian envoy submitted a plan to resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff to leaders in Pyongyang on Sunday, a media report said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov told Russia's Itar-Tass news agency that a reply was expected Monday.
Losyukov was in Pyongyang as part of international efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis over North Korea's nuclear programs.
Russia advocates a plan that would involve security guarantees for North Korea along with a resumption of economic aid for the isolated communist country in return for its commitment to keep the Korean Peninsula nuclear-free.
The talks between the Russian envoy and North Korean officials were "very warm, friendly and constructive," Losyukov said.
The special envoy met with North Korean Deputy Prime Minister Jo Chang Dok, speaker of the national parliament Choe Tae Bok and Deputy Foreign Minister Kun Sun Un.
The dispute began in October when the United States said North Korea had admitted to developing nuclear weapons in violation of a 1994 agreement. In response, Washington suspended fuel shipments guaranteed under the pact.
North Korea in turn expelled U.N. inspectors, reactivated nuclear facilities and last week withdrew from a global anti-nuclear pact. It has threatened to resume missile tests and reopen a lab that could be used to reprocess spent fuel rods, a step toward making nuclear arms.