Republic of Korea (ROK) President Moon Jae-in traveled to Russia on Thursday for a three-day visit. The trip to Russia, the first by a sitting ROK president since Kim Dae-jung in 1999, resulted in a joint statement by the two leaders announcing that they will continue efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and secure peace and stability in Northeast Asia.

Zhao Tong, a fellow of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, pointed out that Russia plays a key role in achieving denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and Russia and the ROK have much in common in this regard.

"You know, after the Singapore summit, everyone is saying China's suspension strategy was proven correct and workable," Zhao told CGTN. "But Russia basically has the same idea." He indicated that the ROK advocates the idea of denuclearizing step by step, which is backed by Russia and China, rather than the immediate destruction of all nuclear weapons and sites, which is supported by the US. The addition of Russia to the agenda may help counterbalance the US’ goal of an immediate resolution.

Zhao's insight about Russia's role in the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization was echoed by Mark Sleboda, an international relations and security analyst.

According to Sleboda, the US’ history of weapons of mass destruction deals with Libya, Iraq and Syria proves that the US is simply not a reliable partner. That's why it's crucially important to bring more globally or regionally influential countries into the process of denuclearization.

"I think Russia and China are trying to position themselves such that if the United States bows to its worser [sic] instincts ... and throws this peace process to the side, that it can be continued between North (DPRK) and South Korea (ROK) with Russia and China as the interlocutors, no matter what the United States and Donald Trump does from week to week," Sleboda told CGTN.

Sleboda added that it's very important and necessary to bring Russia into the peace process and that’s the main purpose of President Moon’s trip.

Young-Key Kim-Renaud, an adviser at George Washington University, shared the same perspective on the benefits of Russian involvement as Zhao and Sleboda. "It's a good thing that Russia is interested in promoting peace in the peninsula," Kim-Renaud told CGTN.

She stressed the importance of peace in the region for economic development. In her opinion, peace and denuclearization are the keys to developing economic cooperation between countries located in Northeast Asia.

"Once the pressure of that war is kind of at least attenuated, we can talk about economic cooperation, which will always have a political situation, because once people invest in each other and work for the common goal of profit, it can only help. The denuclearization, I guess, and economic cooperation will mutually benefit each other," Kim-Renaud said to CGTN.

Kim-Renaud's opinion about the relationship between economy and peace was backed up by Sleboda, who shed light on how Russia and the ROK may cooperate in the future in terms of investment. Economic cooperation between the two countries, Sleboda said, will be the cornerstone that solidifies any peace process. There is potential for a railway shipping line that connects the ROK with Russia and the rest of Europe. However, that line would have to run through the DPRK, making economic cooperation even more important. There is also potential for an Arctic shipping route. "This is what would cement a peace deal," Sleboda told CGTN.