MOSCOW, February 28. /TASS/. Chairman of the State Duma’s Committee for Foreign Affairs Leonid Slutsky supported a return to the format of six-party talks on the settlement on the Korean Peninsula and the development of a common position to ease sanctions against North Korea.
"Washington should not control issues of the North Korean settlement alone, and the results of the abruptly ended North Korea-US summit showed it. It is obviously necessary to return to the format of six-party talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. China, Japan, South Korea and Russia may have a serious influence on the situation," Slutsky told journalists on Thursday, commenting on the meeting between the US and North Korean state leaders in Hanoi.
In his opinion, to find a common consensus "North Korea’s issue should be reintroduced at the UNSC venue." "With regard to Pyongyang’s positive intention to solve the problem based on the concerns of the entire global community, it would be logical to think of the preparation of a new resolution to ease the sanctions against North Korea," Slutsky said.
Speaking about the second American-North Korean summit, the politician added that "both Trump and Kim Jong-un are predictable to some extent." "We can only guess about what actually happened. I do not rule out that the US could breach the permissible boundaries in its usual manner and start strictly imposing its conditions. Regarding North Korea, dictate is futile, as we could see many times, and a full-scale dialogue, preferably an expanded one, should be conducted with this state. This is the only way to rule out the possibility of derailing the settlement process," Slutsky said.
In Hanoi at a two-day summit between the US and North Korea the sides refused to sign the joint document, agreeing to continue dialogue. The schedule was considerably changed - the two state leaders refused to have a joint working dinner. The signing of the final declaration, which, according to a TASS source in local diplomatic circles, was to be named "Hanoi declaration," did not take place either.
After the first in history US-North Korea summit on June 12, 2018, in Singapore, Pyongyang undertook obligations on denuclearization in exchange for security guarantees from Washington. In April last year Pyongyang refused to carry out nuclear arms tests and tests of ballistic missiles of various range for the development of the country’s socialist economy and the quality of life of the population. Later in May North Korea shut down Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, where six underground nuclear explosions had previously occurred. In 2016-2017 North Korea carried out about 40 launches of ballistic missiles.