South Korea's top nuclear envoy met with his Russian counterpart in Moscow on Tuesday to explore ways to resume the long-stalled six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear program, officials said.
  

The meeting between Hwang Joon-kook and Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Morgulov Igor came amid a flurry of diplomatic efforts by five countries -- South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia -- to reopen the denuclearization talks.
  

The six-party negotiations, which also involve North Korea, have been dormant since late 2008. Hwang left for Russia Monday for a three-day visit.
  

North Korea has demanded the resumption of the six-party talks without preconditions, but Seoul and Washington have said that the North should first demonstrate its seriousness about denuclearization.
  

North Korea has increasingly grown closer to Russia in recent months, apparently because its relations with China, the North's long-time ally, have been strained following its nuclear test in 2013.
  

Russia's top diplomat Sergey Lavrov said on Feb. 8 that Moscow's move to improve ties with North Korea will be made in a way not to hamper interests of other neighboring countries. Russia said it will do its part to lead the North to give up its nuclear program.
 
 
Hwang and his counterparts from Washington and Tokyo held talks in Japan last month and the Korean envoy also held talks with China's top nuke negotiator Wu Dawei earlier this month.
  

He told reporters in Beijing that the two sides have narrowed differences on conditions about restarting negotiations over the North's nuclear issue but added Pyongyang has yet to show its sincerity toward denuclearization. (Yonhap)