North Korea talks must resume without preconditions - Putin
MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax) - Russia is convinced that the six-party talks on the settlement of the situation in the Korean peninsula should be restarted without advancing any preconditions to North Korea, said Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I think that the most important task to be fulfilled today is that of unblocking the talks and restarting them. All barriers obstructing this process must be removed. If we keep advancing preconditions, the talks may never resume," Putin said in an interview with the South Korean television and radio company, KBS, ahead of his visit to Seoul on November 13.
"It would be better if the talks resumed, and all the parties involved sat down at a negotiating table to tackle the tasks they have gathered to fulfill," Putin said.
"Oppositely, whenever we try to come to terms on some acute and complicated problems but opt for an overly stringent position or advance ultimatums, we fail to reach the desire result, as a rule," Putin said.
"Goodwill is needed, as well as the understanding of extreme importance for all participants in this process if the talks are to begin," Putin said when asked to comment on the argument that North Korea must fulfill certain terms if the six-party talks are to resume.
Putin said he understands "the disappointment all the parties feel given that the six-nation talks are experiencing setbacks."
But he noted that he sees the negotiating team as optimal and feels "certain optimism" about this format. "I do hope that this mechanism will play its positive role in the future," he said, noting that there are three nuclear powers among the Six - Russia, the United States and China.
Putin said that Russia "will do all it can to ensure this and it will make use of its good and trustful relations with both South and North Korea for this purpose. "Traditionally, we maintain good contacts with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It is an advantage in a way, which Russia will definitely use in order to move this process from standstill," the Russian president said.