Russia would welcome Korean reunification

Russia will welcome reunification of the North and South of Korea, President Vladimir Putin stated today addressing the parliament of the Republic of Korea. "We will hail the process of peaceful creation of a single Korean state, friendly to Russia and other countries,” Vladimir Putin said. He stressed that the peace process on the Korean peninsula "must develop on the principles agreed upon by the Korean sides themselves without any interference from outside.” "All problems must be solved exclusively in a peaceful, diplomatic way, in the spirit of the joint declaration of the South and the North of June 15th, 2000", the Russian president is quoted by RIA Novosti as saying. Also, Russia supports the nuclear-free status of the Korean peninsula, according to Mr. Putin.