Konstantin Pulikovsky, who recently met in Moscow with North Korea's ambassador to Russia, Kim Yong-jae, as a co-chairman of an intergovernmental commission, told journalists in Kiev: "The DPRK ambassador said the economic situation in his country is such that it cannot pay off its debt."
He said Pyongyang has agreed to hold a meeting of the intergovernmental commission in March for the first time in the last six years.
A Russian deputy finance minister said Tuesday that talks on settling North Korea's Soviet-era debt to Russia have been suspended.
"We are not ready to make a decision yet," Sergei Storchak said.
North Korea owes over $8 billion to its neighbor Russia, the legal successor to the Soviet Union.
Trade between the two countries totaled $240 million in 2005, and $140 million in the first nine months of 2006. Forestry continues to dominate bilateral trade.
