PYONGYANG, May 31. /TASS/. The solution to the Korean Peninsula’s nuclear issue cannot be full unless sanctions against Pyongyang are lifted, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho on Thursday.
"Touching on sanctions, this is absolutely clear that starting this discussion about solving the Korean Peninsula’s nuclear problem, we believe that it cannot be full until sanctions are removed," Lavrov said.
"But how to move forward to this, that’s about the art of negotiators. But this cannot be done in one move." "It is impossible in one move to ensure denuclearization, that’s why certainly there should be some stages and there should be the oncoming traffic at each of these stages," Lavrov stressed.
In September 2017, the UN Security Council passed a resolution on toughening sanctions against North Korea in response to its sixth nuclear test. The new measures ban exports of textiles from North Korea and impose an embargo on gas condensate deliveries to the country.
The UN Security Council also cut the country’s imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products to 500,000 barrels in the period from October 1 to December 31, 2017, and to 2 million barrels for 2018 and beyond.
The UN resolution earlier banned exports of a number of minerals and products from North Korea, including coal, iron, lead and seafood. This measure targeted Pyongyang’s foreign trade.