The speaker of the Russian upper house says she is seeking to discuss North Korea's missile and nuclear programs with parliamentary delegations from both Seoul and Pyongyang.

Russian senate chief Valentina Matviyenko revealed the plan during a news conference on Friday ahead of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) opening Saturday in St. Petersburg.

Matviyenko said that the North Korea issue could be adopted as an urgent agenda item during the general assembly meeting of the global organization of national parliaments, involving 184 countries.

She said that Moscow is trying to persuade the delegations of South and North Korea to sit down at the negotiating table on the sidelines of the five-day assembly but the chances are slim.

She also said she would hold official bilateral meetings with South Korea’s parliament speaker and the first deputy chairman of North Korea’s parliament.

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