MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. Japan and Russia share the aspirations for overcoming the crisis around the North Korean nuclear-missile program, Japan’s Foreign Minister Taro Kono said in an interview with TASS at the end of his visit to Moscow.
"With Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov we several times exchanged opinions on the North Korean problem," he said. "We share the opinion it is necessary to have the Korean Peninsula denuclearized. This task is common not only for Japan and Russia, but also for South Korea, the U.S. and China."
He stressed, the DPRK’s nuclear-missile program is equally threatening for the neighboring countries and for the rest of the world. "We consider it unacceptable North Korea conducts nuclear tests and missile launches. This is already threatening not only the east-Asian countries, like Japan and South Korea, but also Russia, other European countries, as well as the entire international community," the diplomat said.
Japan prefers pressure on Pyongyang by sanctions to settle the complicated situation in the region, he continued. "It is necessary to have the UN Security Council’s resolutions on sanctions (against the DPRK - TASS) fulfilled thoroughly, completely by all members of the UN.""
"Russia as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a party to the Sextet talks is a major partner here," he added.
"Thus, it is necessary to make North Korea refuse from the nuclear-missile programs, as well as to settle the problem of kidnapping Japanese citizens by North Korean intelligence services," he said. "Only when this is done, the international community could resume talks with it, and then Japan also will be ready to participate in that process."
"Right now, in the world not a single state considers it necessary to overthrow the current North Korean leadership," the foreign minister added.