ST. PETERSBURG, May 25. /TASS/. Talks between the United States and North Korea are important at all levels and without them North Korea’s denuclearization cannot be solved, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with editors-in-chief of the leading media organized by TASS.
"We believe that direct talks between the United States and North Korea at any, by the way, level and, what is more, at the highest level are of the utmost importance and without those talks the knotty issue of the Korean Peninsula denuclearization is unlikely to be resolved," Putin said.
North Korea’s complete denuclearization could be on the negotiating table only after Pyongyang is provided with guarantees of sovereignty and security, he added.
"To my mind, North Korea should be given guarantees of sovereignty and inviolability in order to talk about complete denuclearization of North Korea," Putin said. "They are guarantees of an opportunity to decide on their own future."