All news

Moscow urges to weigh all costs of US missile shield deployment on Korean peninsula

Moscow considers as inadmissible the escalation of tension and the attempts to whip up the arms race on the Korean peninsula

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. Moscow considers as inadmissible the escalation of tension and the attempts to whip up the arms race on the Korean peninsula and urges to weigh all the costs of the US missile shield deployment, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

"We also expect that the UN Security Council resolution won’t be interpreted as the ground for exacerbating the economic and humanitarian situation of North Korean citizens," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Moreover, we consider as inadmissible the escalation of tension and the attempts to whip up the arms race fraught with the emergence of new dividing lines in the region," the statement said.

"We expect that the relevant sides will, in particular, weigh all the costs related to the planned deployment of the US missile shield systems THAAD," the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement said.

Russia expects North Korea to return to negotiations after UN resolution

Russia expects North Korea to make right conclusions from the UN Security Council’s sanctions resolution and return to the talks on the nuclear problem of the Korean peninsula, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

"By adopting Resolution No. 2270 on North Korea by a consensus vote on March 2, the UN Security Council expressed the consolidated opinion of the international community, which does not accept irresponsible ‘games’ with missile and nuclear weapons," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The new resolution is of quite tough nature but this is a forced measure caused by the fact that North Korea has been defiantly ignoring for ten years the demands of the UN Security Council under Resolutions 1695, 1718, 1874, 2087 and 2094, in accordance with which Pyongyang must immediately curtail its missile and nuclear programs," the statement said.

The UN Security Council’s new resolution on North Korea is binding for all UN member states.

"We hope that the North Korean side will adequately perceive this decision and make right conclusions and return to the negotiating table on the settlement of the nuclear problem of the Korean peninsula based on a joint statement of September 19, 2005 made by the participants in the six-party negotiation process and in the context of the promotion of the general military and political detente in Northeast Asia, the dismantling of the confrontation infrastructure and the development of effective international law mechanisms of security," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in its statement.

"We also expect that the UN Security Council resolution won’t be interpreted as the ground for exacerbating the economic and humanitarian situation of North Korean citizens," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"Moreover, we consider as inadmissible the escalation of tension and the attempts to whip up the arms race fraught with the emergence of new dividing lines in the region," the statement said.

"We expect the relevant sides will, in particular, weigh all the costs related to the planned deployment of the US THAAD missile shield systems," the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement said.

UN Security Council resolution on North Korea

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Wednesday on considerably toughening sanctions against North Korea in response to Pyongyang’s nuclear test and the launch of a carrier rocket with a satellite.

The document resolutely denounces these acts, which violated the four previous UN Security Council resolutions Nos. 1718, 1874, 2087 and 2094 passed from 2006 to 2013.

The resolution, the talks on which were conducted among the United States, China and Russia, bans the imports of coal, iron ore, titanium, vanadium, gold and other precious metals from North Korea, and imposes an embargo on the delivery of all types of aviation fuel to that country.

Also, the document obliges countries to check all cargoes destined for North Korea to see if they include prohibited goods and technologies.

The UN Security Council has also made a decision to toughen the arms embargo and expand financial sanctions on the North Korean banking sector.

As a separate item, the document stipulates a stricter embargo on the delivery of luxury items to North Korea. In particular, this embargo now applies to expensive watches, snowmobiles and yachts.

The North Korean authorities announced on February 7 that they had launched a carrier rocket with the satellite Kwanmenson (the Bright Star). A month before the launch, Pyongyang held the fourth underground nuclear test over the past ten years.

The UN Security Council resolutions prohibit Pyongyang from engaging in any activity linked with nuclear technologies and the development of ballistic missiles.