Updated 3:19 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) – The resumption of six-party talks on North Korea’s controversial nuclear program is possible despite current difficulties, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday after talks with his North Korean counterpart Ri Su Yong in Moscow.
"The contacts should be continued, we should not give up. The situation is complicated, but not hopeless. We will try to create necessary preconditions to resume the six-party talks on the basis of the aims and principles that were laid down in a joint statement of the six parties, adopted in September 2005," Lavrov said.
He pointed out that the agreement among all the participants is needed for the talks to resume, adding that today's meeting with Ri Su Yong proved it was possible. Lavrov noted, however, that the resumption of talks is unlikely to be fast, as there was certain negativity to overcome.
"The main condition for the talks to resume is a calm, reasonable approach to the matter of all participants and, of course, inadmissibility of any abrupt moves that would only polarize the sides," Lavrov stressed.
North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2005, conducting a series of underground nuclear weapons tests in the following years. Its nuclear program has triggered protests from the international community and demands that the nation return to the six-party negotiations on the reduction of its nuclear activity, with the participation of North and South Korea, Russia, the United States, China and Japan.
