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Russia calls for calmness over Korean Peninsula nuclear issue

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-24 23:05

SEOUL -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appealed on Friday that related nations on the six-party talks on the nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula should keep calm and seek resumption of the talks.

Lavrov, who arrived in Seoul early on the day after a two-day visit to Pyongyang, met with his South Korean counterpart Yu Myung- hwan Friday afternoon and held a joint news conference here.

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Lavrov said the current situation on the nuclear issues is "very difficult."

"Related nations need to resolve this matter calmly, not emotionally. The top priority is to restart the six-way talks," he said.

Lavrov said he asked the DPRK to return to the nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty when meeting with his DPRK Pak Ui-chun and DPRK's parliamentary speaker Kim Yong-nam in Pyongyang but the DPRK has no intention to return to the six-party talks yet.

"We need to create conditions for the resumption of the six- party talks. We delivered our position on how to make such conditions to the DPRK," Lavrov said.

The DPRK declared to quit the six-party talks, which involves the United States, the DPRK, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan, in mid-April in protest of a presidential statement by the United Nations' Security Council over DPRK's rocket launch on April 5.

Lavrov said in Seoul that imposing sanctions on the DPRK is " not constructive."

He said Russia proposed that DPRK use its territory for a satellite launch in line with Moscow's policy of cooperating with other nations' peaceful space programs.

However, he didn't mention DPRK's response on Russia's offer.