"On 2006 results, trade turnover between the two countries reached $209 million," Vitaly Gudin, a deputy director of the ministry's foreign economic activity state regulation department, said during a meeting of the Russian delegation to a future bilateral intergovernmental commission.
Gudin said North Korea's share in the turnover is "no more than 10%."
The bilateral commission will hold its session March 23 in Moscow, but the Koreans asked for a delay until March 26.
Konstantin Pulikovsky, the former presidential envoy in the Far Eastern federal district and now head of the Russian technical standards body, Rostekhnadzor, will lead the commission on behalf of Russia.
The sides will consider debt settlement and discuss agricultural cooperation.
Gudin said talks on the settlement of North Korea's $8.8 billion debt to Russia, suspended in 2002, "will be very difficult."
A high-ranking Russian Finance Ministry official said North Korea had suggested that Russia write off 100% of its debt.
"Russia has proposed different variants to North Korea for debt settlement, including debt for investment, debt for property. But North Korea claims it has legislative restrictions to implement Russian proposals," Andrei Barabanov said.
The commission is also expected to focus on Korean labor in Russia, plans to continue the construction of the trans-Korean railroad and its link to the Trans-Siberian railway, and the possibility of delivering and refining Russian crude in North Korea.
