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Russian, Japanese diplomats discuss North Korea’s nuclear problem — Foreign Ministry

Earlier, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said representatives of the foreign ministries of Japan, the USA and South Korea would hold tripartite consultations in Tokyo on January 28

MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov on Friday discussed the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula with Japanese chief negotiator on North Korea Junichi Ihara.

Morgulov and Ihara “exchanged views on the situation around the DPRK nuclear problem with the focus on searching for ways to resume the six-party negotiations”, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Kotaro Otsuki, minister-counsellor and head of the information department at the Japanese Embassy in Russia, told TASS ahead of the meeting of the Russian and Japanese diplomats that “the positions of both countries on the settlement of the problem on the Korean Peninsula are not identical in all ways”.

Earlier, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said representatives of the foreign ministries of Japan, the USA and South Korea would hold tripartite consultations in Tokyo on January 28.

The six-party talks over North Korean nuclear and missile problems involving China, Russia, the US, South Korea and Japan were suspended in 2009 at Pyongyang’s initiative. Later North Korea stated repeatedly that the country was ready to resume talks, but Washington, Seoul and Tokyo continue to note that they did not find sound reasons to re-start talks.