Russia ready to join efforts in N. Korea nuke settlement
10/10/2006 16:13
MOSCOW, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia expressed its willingness to join the international effort to resolve peacefully the situation around N. Korea following its nuclear test yesterday, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
Foreign ministers of Russia, the United States, Japan, China and South Korea discussed the situation around the North Korean crisis during a phone conference on October 9.
"Russia expressed its readiness to participate in joint efforts of all parties in order to achieve a peaceful resolution of the situation around North Korea," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003, and in February 2005 announced it had acquired nuclear weapons. Some experts, however, questioned the claim.
But the reclusive Communist state announced Monday that it successfully detonated a nuclear device underground, in defiance of a UN Security Council statement urging it to give up nuclear test plans and return to disarmament talks, and earlier warnings from the international community.
The five countries involved in Korean Peninsula nuclear talks Monday expressed deep concern and regret over North Korea's nuclear test and agreed to discuss proposals on an adequate response to the Communist regime's actions, including the adoption of a UN resolution on the issue.
North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Japan, China and the United States have been engaged in talks on the nuclear issue since 2003, discussing aid and security guarantees for the secretive regime in exchange for a renunciation of its nuclear program.
However, talks stalled last November over Pyongyang's demands that the U.S. lift sanctions imposed on it for its alleged involvement in counterfeiting and other illegal activities.
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