Moscow calls to resume talks on North Korea

Moscow calls to resume talks on North Korea as soon as possible, official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Yakovenko said. At the request of Russian media he commented on statements by North Korean press that Pyongyang could have to consider invalid the joint declaration on the denuclearization of the peninsula signed by North and South Koreas in 1992.

"We call the sides involved in the settlement of the conflict around the North Korean nuclear programme for soonest continuation of the talks to provide non-proliferation of nuclear weapons under the conditions of protection of legal interests of North Korean security," Yakovenko stressed. However, "it is necessary to abstain from steps aggravating the situation," he noted.

According to Yakovenko, "this declaration is one of the bases of the Korean settlement." "The adherence of both sides to its statements was a condition of successful settlement of the 1993-1994 crisis around the North Korean nuclear programme," he said.

"The Russian standpoint is well known and has been often brought to the notice of all the interested sides. We come out for preservation of nuclear-free status of the Korean Peninsula and against all attempts to produce weapons of mass destruction no matter how they are motivated," said the official spokesman of the Russian Foreign Ministry. "We believe it can be provided by political-diplomatic means guaranteeing security, independence and development of North and South Koreas," Alexander Yakovenko stressed.