U.S. provokes crisis in North Korean nuclear settlement

The current crisis in the settlement of the North Korean nuclear problem is caused by the extremely tough position of the United States, chairman of the State Duma international affairs committee Konstantin Kosachev said at a press conference in Moscow on Thursday.

However, the parliamentarian does not justify North Korea's decision to secede from the non-proliferation regime and all subsequent statements of the country's leadership.

In Kosachev's opinion, it is necessary to consider all aspects of the crisis. He believes that the North Korean leadership is afraid of color revolutions which recently occurred on the post-Soviet space. US statements on the "axis of evil" make North Korea beware of US intentions to change the regime in the DPRK.

"Highly politicized issues are included in the agenda of the six-party talks creating additional problems to the settlement," Konstantin Kosachev emphasized.

According to him, all countries involved in the six-sided talks are interesting in easing political tensions between the United States and North Korea and bringing the DPRK back to the negotiation table.

Kosachev believes that North Korea hardly possesses nuclear weapons but can be carrying out work on nuclear bomb creation.

During the visit of the State Duma's delegation to Pyongyang, the North Korean side claimed that the DPRK "considered itself a country possessing nuclear weapons," Kosachev added.