MOSCOW, October 26. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Takehiro Funakoshi, the director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at Japan's Foreign Ministry, discussed in a telephone conversation on Tuesday recent developments on the Korean Peninsula, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s press office announced in a statement.
"The diplomats discussed perspectives for the developments on the Korean Peninsula, as well as possible steps on behalf of all involved states in the situation settlement in the interests of promoting the political and diplomatic process," the statement reads.
Japanese diplomat Funakoshi is heading his country’s delegation at the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program.
As the South Korean military reported on October 19, North Korea launched a ballistic missile from a coastal site in the country’s northeast, making it the eighth missile launch since the beginning of this year.
In Seoul’s estimates, North Korea could have tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile, as was the case in 2015 and 2019. As Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters last week, the Japanese authorities believe that Pyongyang test-fired two ballistic missiles.
In January 2003, North Korea announced its final withdrawal from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which it had been party to since 1985. Six-party talks on resolving the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula began in August 2003, involving Russia, the US, China, Japan and the two Korean states.
A total of six rounds of talks took place before Pyongyang stated in April 2009 that it would be pointless to continue the negotiations.