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Lavrov: Korean Peninsula security issues should be settled through talks

According to the Russian Foreign Minister, the situation on the Korean Peninsula "has considerably deteriorated after another nuclear and missile tests conducted by North Korea (DPRK) recently"

BEIJING, April 29. /TASS/. Moscow and Beijing are against using the tension on the Korean Peninsula as a pretext for military build-up there and call for settling security issues by way of negotiations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday after talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

According to Lavrov, the situation on the Korean Peninsula "has considerably deteriorated after another nuclear and missile tests conducted by North Korea (DPRK) recently."

"We absolutely agree with each other that North Korea must abstain from any new irresponsible steps, we simultaneously confirmed the counterproductiveness and danger of the attempts to use Pyongyang’s actions, with all their unacceptability as a pretext for military build-up in the region and the deployment of the US missile defense positioning area there", Lavrov said.

"We believe that all issues related to ensuring security should be settled only collectively," Lavrov said.

"Within the framework of six-party talks, which, we hope will be resumed, (and will do everything we can to create the necessary conditions for this), the Northeast Asia Peace and Security working group was once formed," the Russian foreign minister said. "This is the right format to discuss any concerns over one’s own security. We call on our American, South Korean and other partners in the six-party talks to be guided by such approaches."