Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov plans to visit North Korea next week. 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Russia's TASS news agency on Wednesday that Lavrov's visit to North Korea is in the works. 

She said concrete dates would be announced separately, declining to comment further. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian news portal RBC reported that Lavrov would travel to North Korea next Thursday, quoting a source at the Russian Foreign Ministry. 

Last month, North Korea's top diplomat Ri Yong-ho held rare talks with Lavrov in Moscow and invited him to visit Pyongyang. 

The Russian foreign minister's planned trip draws attention as it comes amid heated diplomacy among major countries over the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the upcoming summit between the U.S. and the North.

[Photo : YONHAP News]