TOKYO, November 4. /TASS/. North Korea is truly ready to fulfill its denuclearization obligations, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev told reporters in Tokyo on Monday.

"We have an opportunity to hear Pyongyang’s assessment of these developments directly from them [the North Koreans]. I can tell you that it confirms our view that North Korea is truly ready to fulfill its part of the agreements that are being developed within the six-party group and at the bilateral level, between North Korea and the US," he pointed out.

According to the Russian senator, Pyongyang has made it clear that it is ready to pursue the path of denuclearization, provided that military tensions on the Korean Peninsula and sanctions pressure on North Korea ease.

"Our North Korean colleagues say that [US] President Donald Trump and other American officials involved in talks took on some obligations but abandoned them upon return home," Kosachev noted.

He added that "it is no surprise that North Korea seeks to resume activities to develop its missile and nuclear program." "It doesn’t mean that we welcome or support it. But there certainly is nothing surprising in it because the United States continue insisting that North Korea follow the path to the end, and then, the Americans will do something in return," Kosachev explained.

When speaking about sanctions against North Korea, the Russian senator noted that there were the United Nations Security Council’s sanctions on the one hand and unilateral sanctions on the other. "Unilateral sanctions definitely must be removed because they are illegitimate," he stressed. "At the same time, there are the UN Security Council’s sanctions. It is a matter for collective discussion, and no one, including the US, Russia, and China, has the right to rush things and take on any obligations to North Korea on behalf of the Security Council and the entire United Nations," he emphasized.