North Korea’s nominal head of state Kim Yong Nam met with South Korean presidential envoy Yoon Sang-hyun in Moscow during the Victory Day celebrations held May 8-10.

While meetings between the two were not previously scheduled the pair met several times. However, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification (MoU) said the impromptu exchanges did not represent progress in inter-Korean relations.

“We cannot tell what this action will lead to in the future, but this was just a friendly gesture between two envoys. This kind of conversation has happened many times before,” an MoU spokesperson told NK News on Monday.

Yoon had