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Moscow, Pyongyang start consultations on Korean Peninsula issue

As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on September 21, there is no alternative to political and diplomatic settlement of the situation

MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. Russian and North Korean diplomats have just started talks on the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Cars with diplomatic license plates of the North Korean Embassy entered the territory of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Reception House at Spiridonovka St, Moscow, a TASS journalist reported on the scene.

The Russian side is represented by ambassador-at-large Oleg Burmistrov, while Pyongyang is represented by Choe Son Hui, director of the U.S. affairs department in North Korea’s Foreign Ministry. Media are not being admitted to the consultations.

The situation in the region escalated during the past months due to Pyongyang’s development of its nuclear and missile program. Most tensions are observed in US - North Korean relations: The parties regularly exchange hostile rhetoric which amounts to threats of military action.

As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on September 21, there is no alternative to political and diplomatic settlement of the situation. "Tensions regarding North Korea are escalating in a dangerous way. We resolutely denounce Pyongyang’s reckless nuclear and missile schemes which violate the UN Security Council resolutions," the minister stressed. "Warmongering is not just a dead end, but a path towards destruction."

Moscow and Beijing offered a roadmap to ease tensions that sets a double moratorium on North Korea’s missile and nuclear activity and on military maneuvers conducted by the US and its allies in the region.