XIAMEN /China/, September 4. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Monday that is impractical to talk about the emergence of a real nuclear and missile threat to Russia from North Korea in light of the latest nuclear tests.
"All of us saw photos of Kim Jong-un accompanied by generals inspecting some facilities. We know that the test conducted a few days ago was more powerful in terms of its aftereffects than the previous ones," he noted. "However, all that does not mean that a real missile and nuclear threat has emerged, at least to us," he pointed out.
According to Ryabkov, Moscow is well aware of the parameters and capabilities of the US THAAD missile systems, with Seoul and Tokyo announcing plans to deploy these systems on their territories. "These systems have been developed since the 1990s. They had a history of unsuccessful test launches. However, the last 15 test launches were 90-plus percent successful, and only one of the 15 launches was considered a failure," he went on to say. "Therefore, THAAD’s proven combat use ability, the proven range of radar stations to find, detect and track targets that have been integrated into THAAD is a factor that must be taken into account in our military planning."
Ryabkov stressed that Moscow had been pointing to the dangerous trend of North Korea turning into a nuclear power. "Due to the fact that these actions are a violation of a UN Security Council resolution, not to mention North Korea’s previous steps like withdrawal from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), we can see that the country seeks to turn into a state possessing nuclear weapons," he highlighted.
"Of course, this is an alarming trend, this is an unacceptable scenario for us and this is an issue that demands the most serious attention from us, that’s why we treat it with our utmost responsibility," Ryabkov concluded.