By Mike Eckel A diplomatic rift between South Korea and Russia has led to the removal of three officials at the South Korean Consulate in Vladivostok. A spokesman for the South Korean Foreign Ministry in Seoul said both sides agreed to the withdrawal of five South Korean officials from Moscow and Vladivostok, along with the removal of several Russian officials from Seoul. “The withdrawal is in accordance with an agreement between the intelligence authorities of both countries,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee Ho-Jin told the Associated Press. While denying that any staff at the Vladivostok consulate were being expelled, South Korean Consul General Jung Soo Kim confirmed that there would be staff reductions in both countries. He would not confirm number of departing staff members, nor would he comment on whether they were intelligence officers at the Vladivostok consulate. “These are negotiations going on through diplomatic channels,” said Kim. “We are waiting to hear our home country’s rules.” Kim also said that the rift in relations between Moscow and Seoul was now a “finished matter.” The feud began July 4, when Moscow expelled a South Korean diplomat, Cho Sung-woo, on charges of receiving classified materials from a Russian official in the Foreign Ministry’s Asian department in Moscow. The Russian official was charged with high treason. Seoul retaliated by expelling Oleg Abrakim, an official stationed at Russia’s embassy in Seoul, on July 8. Moscow called that action unjustified. In negotiations that followed between the two countries’ foreign ministries, Russia acknowledged the presence of two intelligence officers at their Seoul embassy. Russian officials proposed each country limit the number of intelligence officers in the other’s country to two, according to press reports. Seoul agreed, and will remove two officials from Moscow and three from Vladivostok after a July 27 meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov and his South Korean counterpart, Park Chung-Soo, at the Asian Regional Forum in Manila. Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told Interfax July 20 that the foreign ministers’ bilateral discussions will “touch upon different aspects of an unpleasant incident which took place in our relations with South Korea.” © copyright 1998 the Vladivostok News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed in any form. [Back to News page]  [Back to Front page]  [Write to us]