World powers accuse North Korea of pursuing a nuclear and ballistic weapons program in violation of UN sanctions [Xinhua]
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono say that the issue of North Korea’s threats in the Asia-Pacific region should be settled through the United Nations Security Council.
“We hope that in the end it will still be possible to find a way out of this spiral of confrontation and try to find ways to resume the negotiation process,” Lavrov said at a joint press conference with Kono who is in Moscow for bilateral talks on Saturday.
The two senior diplomats also said there needs to be a way to resume talks with the North Korean leadership.
In line with the UNSC resolutions, Putin ordered that increased restrictions be applied to North Korea in the trade, financial, and scientific sectors even though Russia has no existing economic ties to the country.
The UNSC passed Resolution 2371 on August 5 in response to Pyongyang testing two ballistic missiles.
A month later, Resolution 2375 was passed by the Council in response to North Korea’s nuclear test. Analysts say that 2375 is the most punitive and restrictive measure taken by the UNSC against North Korea to date.
Both resolutions restrict coal, iron and iron ore, seafood, lead and lead ore, and banning textile exports from North Korea while applying a cap on refined petroleum product imports at two million barrels per year, and freezing the amount of crude oil imports.
“To denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, which is a common task of Japan and Russia, a full implementation of the resolutions of the UNSC is necessary. We have reached an agreement to cooperate closely in this sphere,” Kono said in Moscow on Saturday.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
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