Moscow hopes Pyongyang will heed opinion of intl community, give up nuclear programs
MOSCOW. March 7 (Interfax) - Russia hopes that North Korea will properly regard the consolidated will of the international community expressed in the UN Security Council resolution and expects that it will return to the regime of IAEA safeguards and join the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
"On March 7 the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2094 in connection with the underground nuclear test conducted by North Korea on February 12. The steps implied by the resolution with regard to DPRK are targeted and linked with the need to stop North Korean programs of developing nuclear arms and their delivery vehicles but do not affect the vital needs of that country's population. The resolution clearly states that the sanctions should not complicate the operations of diplomatic missions in DPRK," a commentary of the Russian Foreign Ministry information and press department on the adoption of the UN Security Council resolution says.
The resolution confirms the loyalty of the Security Council to the political and diplomatic solution of the nuclear problem of the Korean peninsula and the resumption of six-party talks for the purpose. It outlines the prospect of suspending or lifting sanctions, if North Korea fulfills the requirements of this and previous UN Security Council Resolutions 1718, 1874 and 2087, the ministry says.
"We hope that Pyongyang will duly accept the consolidated will of the international community expressed in the resolution and drop the further development of nuclear arms and all military rocket programs. We expect the DPRK to return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and to the regimen of IAEA safeguards and join CTBT," the Foreign Ministry commentary says.
Moscow also expects "sides involved in the affairs of the region to not permit actions aggravating the situation on the Korean peninsula and in Northwest Asia."
"We see as an alternative to the further fanning of tension around the nuclear problem of the Korean peninsula the need to resume the work launched in the framework of six-party talks to form a mechanism of peace and security in Northeast Asia on the basis of well-known initiatives of the Russian Federation," the commentary says.