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North Korean dilemma impossible to solve by sanctions only, diplomat advises

Vasily Nebenzya indicated that the resolution submitted by the U.S. required scrutiny but the Security Council had not begun its discussions at the moment

UNITED NATIONS, August 3. /TASS/. It is impossible to resolve the situation around the DPRK by sanctions only and political dialogue - between Washington and Pyongyang in the first place - is essential, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya said on Wednesday in a comment on a possible resolution of the UN Security Council that would tighten restrictive measures against the DPRK.

Security Council members are pondering the sanctions as a response to the latest testing of a ballistic missile by Pyongyang.

"Sanctions will not solve the problem, only a political dialogue will," Nebenzya said. "The question is what the aim of the sanctions is. If we see that they are suffocating the people, that will be questioned. If they help to eliminate the nuclear problem of North Korea, that's another thing."

He indicated that the resolution submitted by the U.S. required scrutiny but the Security Council had not begun its discussions at the moment.

Nebenzya urged the U.S. and the DPRK to start talks but admitted that it would be difficult enough to translate his recommendation into practice.

The situation on the Korean Peninsula deteriorated sharply after the DPRK announced the launches of Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missiles. Korean Central News Agency said the last of the two missiles covered a distance of 988 km and reached the apogee of 3,725 km.

The Japanese Defense Ministry said that, compared with the July 4 launch, the second missile reached an altitude almost 1,000 km higher than the previous one and spent five minutes more in flight.

Experts in South Korea claim the range of North Korean missiles can be as big as 10,000 km.

The Russian Defense Ministry differed in its assessments of the characteristics of the missile. It said the DPRK had fired a medium-range ballistic missile, which climbed to the altitude of 681 km in the apogee and covered a distance of 732 km.

The second Hwasong-14 fell in the central sector of the Sea of Japan.-0-kle

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