MOSCOW, May 26. /TASS/. Moscow and Beijing are firmly in favor of the full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on Friday.

"We paid much attention to the situation in the Korean Peninsula," Lavrov said. "Russia and China firmly favor the full denuclearization of that peninsula."

Russia and China expect all parties to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions concerning the Korean Peninsula, the top diplomat went on. 

"We have confirmed that our countries expect all concerned parties to abide by the United Nations Security Council resolutions," Lavrov said, adding that Moscow calls for urgent steps to prevent further escalation of the standoff around the Korean Peninsula.

"We pay great attention to taking urgent steps on preventing further escalation of confrontation around the Korean Peninsula," Lavrov said. "All resolutions of the UN Security Council should be implemented, they stipulate that Pyongyang must stop missile and nuclear tests and envisage certain enforcement measures to impel North Korea to meet these demands," he said.

"These resolutions assume that talks will continue and resume to search for a solely political solution to the issue," Lavrov said.

"Everybody agrees the use of force scenarios would be disastrous. In that connection I would like to point to the recent statements by US Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who said outright that the use of force in attempts to settle the Korean Peninsula’s problems would be harmful and catastrophic," Lavrov said. "Therefore a political solution will have to be searched. It looks like there have been calls for resuming contacts, but on certain conditions."

"This is openly stated in Washington, Seoul and now even in Pyongyang, but each party puts forward conditions implying that it is the other that should be the first to act," Lavrov said.

THAAD deployment to South Korea

Beijing stands against the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to South Korea, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday following talks with Sergey Lavrov.

"We insist that the Peninsula should be denuclearized while peace and stability should be ensured, as we stand against any statements that could raise tensions, and oppose the deployment of the THAAD system to South Korea under the pretext of the North Korean nuclear issue," Wang Yi said.

Beijing and Russia have taken into account statements made by the new South Korean President Moon Jae-in, in which he expressed readiness to resolve Korean Peninsula issues through dialogue, he went on. 

"We have taken into consideration the statements that the new South Korean president made, who has been repeatedly emphasizing the need to solve the North Korean issue through dialogue while adding that the search for dialogue should go hand in hand with sanctions," he said.

"We expect Seoul to remain committed to the spirit of these statements and make efforts to resume the necessary dialogue and contacts with North Korea," the Chinese top diplomat said.