MOSCOW, January 23 (Itar-Tass) – Moscow urged Pyongyang to give up nuclear weapons and all military missile programmes.
“On January 22, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2087 in connection with a missile launch in the DPRK on December 12, 2012. The resolution was adopted in response to North Korea’s violation of the U.N. Security Council’s decisions,” the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, January 23.
“The additional restrictive measures set forth in the document with regard to the DPRK are targeted in nature and are tightly linked to the need to stop North Korean programmes to create nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that do not address vital needs of the population for humanitarian aid and economic assistance,” the ministry said.
The resolution reaffirmed the Security Council’s commitment to a political and diplomatic solution to the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula and resumption of six-party talks.
Moscow believes it is of paramount importance that “the resolution clearly states – and the Russian delegation firmly insisted on this – that all sanctions imposed on North Korea should not affect the operation of foreign diplomatic missions in that country”.
“We urge our partners in the DPRK to receive properly the will of the international community expressed in the resolution, give up nuclear weapons and all military missile programmes, return to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and IAEA safeguards regime, and join the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty,” the ministry said. “We also hope that all sides concerned will refrain from actions that may aggravate the situation.”
“Russia reiterates its readiness to work together with its partners in the six-party format to devise a mechanism of peace and security in Northeast Asia as one of the main channels for creating conditions for resuming negotiations,” the ministry said.