North and South Korean officials met in Russia in 2019 to discuss energy matters, and a key North Korean official depicted in a blockbuster South Korean movie was at the meetings, according to multiple press reports.

Lee Chul-gyu, a South Korean lawmaker with the main opposition People Power Party, released information on the confidential inter-Korean meeting Monday. Lee is a member of a parliamentary committee investigating nuclear North Korea, the JoongAng Ilbo reported.

According to the document, an unidentified deputy director of Korea Gas Corp., a South Korean public natural gas company, was granted permission by Seoul's unification ministry to meet with North Korean representatives in the Russian city of Vladivostok, from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, 2019.

The trip's mission was to "acquire energy intelligence and build a network of human resources," the report said.

The unidentified South Korean KOGAS official said in a written report disclosed Monday that he met with one delegate on two occasions in 2019. The meetings were held at Lotte Hotel in Vladivostok, a South Korean hotel chain, and took place on Nov. 29 and Dec. 1.

The North Korean delegate in the report was identified as Ri Ho Nam, the same official depicted in an award-winning South Korean film, "The Spy Gone North." In the film, Ri is given a fictitious name and is director of the North Korean Economic Council in China, where he makes contact with the South Korean spy-protagonist.

In Vladivostok, the two sides discussed specific projects, including the potential construction of a gas-fired power plant in North Korea, according to South Korean news service Seoul Pyongyang News.

The North Koreans inquired about gas routes and plant construction, but there were no discussions of nuclear power plants, according to the report.

SP News' South Korean source also said the gas-powered plant was planned for construction in North Korea's Wonsan-Kalma district. An ethnic Korean executive from Japan was planning to invest in the project, the report said.

Copyright 2021 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent., source International Top News