Russia's former ambassador to North Korea is expected to start his job as Moscow's top envoy to Seoul starting in late January, a diplomatic source said Friday.

Alexander Timonin was named as Moscow's new ambassador to South Korea in late December and will likely replace Konstantin Vnukov around Jan. 23, when he arrives here, the source said.

Timonin had served as Russia's ambassador to Pyongyang since May 2012. Before that, he had experience in dealing with trilateral cooperation among the two Koreas and Russia while serving in Moscow's foreign ministry, according to the source.

It marks the first time that Russia's ambassador to the North will be transferred to the South to head the country's embassy in Seoul. He has also previously worked as a minister at the Russian Embassy in Seoul.

As Russia has diplomatic ties with both Seoul and Pyongyang, diplomats handling the Korean Peninsula tend to be assigned to embassies in the two Koreas interchangeably.

Experts said that the appointment is widely expected to help pursue cooperative projects involving the three countries.

The two Koreas and Russia have been engaged in the so-called Rajin-Khasan logistics project that is designed to make the North Korean northeastern port city of Rajin a logistics hub by linking it to Russia's Trans-Siberian railway.

North Korea has been stepping up its diplomatic engagement with Russia as its relations with China, the North's long-time ally, have been strained following Pyongyang's third nuclear test in 2013.

Choe Ryong-hae, a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, visited Russia in November in an apparent bid to break from its international isolation. (Yonhap)