Russian and US standpoints on North Korea are close

Russian and US standpoints concerning North Korea are becoming closer, Vladimir Putin stated at a press conference in the Kremlin on Friday.

"We support a nuclear-free status of the Korean peninsula," he said. According to him, the North Korean problem must be resolved by negotiations taking into consideration the country's "interests and concerns." "If North Korea is concerned about its security, it should be provided with security guarantees," the President stressed.

When answering a question, he also added that as far as he knew from his conversations with the US President, the US Administration had no intention to use military force in resolving the North Korean problem." "This problem will be resolved jointly with participation of all interested parties - South Korea, Japan and China," the Russian Head of State said.

He is convinced that "there is a good basis for resolving the problem and there is a good will of the process participants."