In order to contribute to the improvement of the bilateral relations between the Republic of Korea and Russia and help find specific implementation measures for South Korea's Eurasia Initiative against the backdrop of North Korea's fourth nuclear weapons test earlier this year and the seventh Workers' Party Congress last May, the Sejong Institute held this year's first Sejong ROK-Russia Forum on Wednesday, June 1, 2016, at Lotte Hotel Moscow.

The forum was held on a number of interrelated themes including "North Korea's Nuclear Proliferation Issue and the Regional Order in Northeast Asia" and "Measures for the ROK-Russia Cooperation." Director of Security Strategy Studies Department Dr. Hyun-ik Hong, and senior fellows Dr. Tai Hwan Lee and Eunsook Chung participated in the forum from the Sejong Institute. Professor Beom-Shik Shin from Seoul National University, a professional diplomat and East Asia Section Director Georgy Toloraya at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and former Ambassador Gleb Ivashentsov as well as other experts from Russia participated in the forum for active discussions.

During the first session on the theme of "North Korea's Nuclear Proliferation Issue and the Regional Security Order in Northeast Asia," Director Georgy Toloraya and former Ambassador Gleb Ivashentsov made presentations on North Korea's nuclear capability, the U.S. and ROK's policy and strategy on North Korea, Russia's perspective and position on the Five-Party Talks, as well as the possible measures for resolving North Korea's nuclear proliferation issue and Russia's role.

In the Second session, Professor Beom-Shik Shin and Professor Sergey Luzianin discussed about the issue of Korean unification and Russia's position, possible areas for ROK-Russia cooperation for realizing the Eurasia Initiative, and various measures for establishing a multilateral security framework in Northeast Asia.