MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. The six-party talks involving Russia are a more rational way to comprehensively deal with security issues on the Korean Peninsula than the bilateral dialogue between North Korea and the United States, Director of the Center of Russia’s Strategy in Asia at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences Georgy Toloraya told TASS on Friday commenting on the speech of North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong at the UN General Assembly.
The expert noted that the United States was unlikely to exclude Seoul from the dialogue, that is what North Korea is seeking. "In my opinion, a more rational way is the multilateral, six-party talks with the participation of the two Koreas, Russia, China, Japan and the United States to comprehensively solve the security problem on the Korean Peninsula," he said. "A single American-North Korean treaty would clearly be not enough."
Toloraya noted that the United States was currently showing less stiffness with regard to the direct dialogue with the North. "During practically the entire presidency of Barack Obama Americans are adhering to the so-called "policy of strategic patience," that is the containment of North Korea waiting for the collapse of the regime. Since this policy has had no success, Obama’s tenure is coming to an end, and the only result of the US policy toward North Korea was the stepping up of the nuclear and missile capabilities, it seems that now Americans want to launch some sort of dialogue, possibly, with the participation of South Korea, which on August 24 reached certain agreements with North Korea on the dialogue," he said.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong, in his speech during the general debate at the 70th UN General Assembly session, once again urged the United States to engage in a direct dialogue on concluding a peace treaty.