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Russia set to help relieve tensions around North Korea
Interfax

Moscow, 26 December: Russia is willing to contribute to political and diplomatic efforts aimed at relieving the tensions surrounding North Korea, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Losyukov has told Interfax.

"It is necessary to stop the heightening tensions around this problem," he said.

"There should be someone wise and open-minded who can take the first steps towards a detente," the deputy minister said, adding that this "concerns all parties involved - Korea, America, and others."

"We are willing to help in this manner," Losyukov said.

The tension surrounding North Korea has dramatically increased after the authorities in that country decided to resume the operation of its nuclear power plant and removed seals and other monitoring instruments put on it by the IAEA. Pyongyang is justifying this move with the fact that the US stopped supplying the country with fuel for thermal power plants as it was obligated to do under a previous agreement between these two countries.

Foreign experts believe that with the launch of the reactor, North Korea will be able to start producing nuclear weapons in just a few months.

Losyukov emphasized that Russia's position remains unchanged. "We would like the Korean peninsula to be free from both nuclear programmes and nuclear weapons. We are informing North Korea of our opinion on this score," he said.

At the same time, he noted that discussing the situation in an exclusively negative context for North Korea, including that of the IAEA, would be counterproductive.

"You cannot achieve anything through accusations, pressure or tight demands, not to mention threats. That will only make it worse. The situation that has taken shape is not just a technical issue, it is a political issue, which must be first and foremost resolved by political and diplomatic means," Losyukov said.

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