SOCHI, May 19. /TASS/. Russia expects Pyongyang to display responsibility and observe its duties of a UN member-state, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Thursday.
"Alarming forecasts regarding possible violations of UN Security Council resolutions during the 7th congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea have proved groundless," Zakharova said. "We do hope that the North Korean side will adhere to a responsible policy further on and honor its duties of a UN member-state."
"We’ve taken note of a number of initiatives for easing tensions in inter-Korean relations and improving the situation in the peninsula," Zakharova said. "They were put forward by the leadership of North Korea at the party forum."
"We hope that the counterparts to whom Pyongyang’s call is addressed will not make hasty decisions and will not reject the proposals off the cuff or jump at half-baked conclusions, but will thoroughly analyze them to make a proper, responsible decision," Zakharova said.
"We are certain that progress towards peace and stability in Southeast Asia should be mutual and reciprocal and be accompanied by pro-active participation of all parties present in the region," the diplomat said.
She said such an approach might "create prerequisites for normalizing North Korea’s bilateral relations with South Korea, the United States and Japan and get down to practical work to form multilateral mechanisms to maintain security and cooperation in the given region."
The diploamt has once again stressed that Russia is against using the issue of the North Korea nuclear threat for deploying a missile shield in the region.
"I would like to especially point to the topicality of the task of reducing the level of military activity. We consider it inadmissible to use the thesis about the North Korean nuclear and missile threat for attaining unilateral military advantages and massively pulling new types and systems of armaments into the region, including the deployment of the new missile shield positioning area there as a regional segment of the US global ABM system," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.
"The Russian side is invariably ready for the closest interaction with all the states concerned in the interests of ensuring peace and stability in that region and achieving the political and diplomatic settlement of the Korean peninsula’s nuclear problem," the Russian diplomat said.