North Korea's Kim and Russia's Putin to meet on April 25

MOSCOW (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Russian eastern city of Vladivostok on Thursday, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Tuesday. The leaders will discuss political and diplomatic efforts to settle the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula, and Kim's visit is key in this process, Ushakov said. He said Russia's bilateral trade with North Korea fell by more than 56 percent last year because of sanctions against Pyongyang but Moscow thinks it is important that North Korea and the United States are interested in maintaining their contact. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Peter Graff)