South Korea and Russia agreed Friday to work closely together to enforce UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea as the two countries held high-level strategic talks in Moscow, a senior South Korean diplomat said.

South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam said he reached the agreement with Russia's First Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov, while reaffirming that the two countries will never recognize North Korea as a nuclear weapons state.

Russia also shared an understanding of South Korea's position that the international community should not agree to North Korea's attempt to seek dialogue aimed at winning international recognition as a nuclear power, officials said.

The two sides also agreed to work together to carry out a series of agreements reached during a summit between their leaders in September, such as accelerating talks to forge a free trade agreement between South Korea and the five-nation Eurasian Economic Union led by Russia, officials said.

(Yonhap)