UNITED NATIONS, January 11. /TASS/. The United Nations Security Council has hailed contacts between North and South Koreas and expressed the hope that dialogue between the two countries will lead to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Kazakhstan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Kairat Umarov said on Wednesday after the UN Security Council’s closed-door meeting.

"Members of the Security Council welcomed the recent steps and contacts between North and South Koreas," he said. "Members of the Security Council noted that such preliminary dialogue between the two Korean states may open possibilities for building up trust on the Korean Peninsula, ease tension and lead to denuclearization."

According to the Kazakh diplomat, the UN Security Council stressed that North Korea and all other member states must strictly abide by all Security Council resolutions.

Umarov refrained from disclosing details of the meeting and did not answer the question whether all Security Council members were satisfied with the format of talks. US’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley said earlier that Washington "won't take any of the talks seriously if they don't do something to ban all nuclear weapons."

On January 9, the first round of dialogue on mending ties between North and South Koreas was held in the border village of Panmunjom. The parties discussed reopening an emergency communication channel between military officials, holding consultations on easing tensions on the border and reached an agreement on the North Korean delegation’s visit to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

Wednesday’s meeting of the UN Security Council was initiated by Poland and Sweden. Swedish Permanent Representative to the United Nations Olof Skoog called on the Security Council to stay consolidated and spare no effort to settle the situation on the Korean Peninsula. According to the Swedish diplomat, Stockholm hails the progress reached in the talks between the two Koreas and thinks that North Korea’s participation in the Olympic Games is good news.

Diplomats from other Western countries also welcomed contacts between Pyongyang and Seoul but did not support the idea of easing the sanctions against North Korea. According to British UN Ambassador, Matthew Rycroft North Korea should stop developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles for that.