"The parties spoke for joint efforts to prevent destabilization in North-East Asia and maintain the six-nation negotiation process on the Korean peninsula's nuclear issue. Agreement was reached on maintaining close contacts and continuing consultations on this issue," the ministry said in a statement.
Lavrov and Clinton discussed the North Korea issue over the phone, the ministry said.
North Korea launched a multistage rocket with a communications satellite at 11:30 a.m. (02:30 a.m. GMT) over Japan on Sunday, defying pressure from the United States, Japan and South Korea and other countries, which suspect the launch was a cover for the test of the communist regime's Taepodong-2 long-range missile.
North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket was condemned by the United States and other countries. Meanwhile, the secretive communist regime insisted that the launch was meant to put a civilian satellite into orbit.
The six-nation talks, involving North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Japan, China and the United States, were launched in 2003 after Pyongyang withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
