- Sputnik International
Asia
Find top stories and features from Asia and the Pacific region. Keep updated on major political stories and analyses from Asia and the Pacific. All you want to know about China, Japan, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan, Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Russia Expects New South Korean President to Galvanize Peninsula Peace Process

© REUTERS / Yonhap South Korean President Moon Jae-in waves as he heads for the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, May 10, 2017.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in waves as he heads for the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, May 10, 2017. - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Moscow hopes that the new South Korean leadership will intensify cooperation with Russia on resolution of the Korean issue, Russian Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Timonin said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Moscow expects progress in the settlement of the North Korean nuclear issue following the election of the new South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, Russia's Ambassador to Seoul Alexander Timonin said Thursday.

"In his statements, President Moon Jae-in has repeatedly stressed that his plans include the gradual normalization of relations with the DPRK," Timonin said in an interview with Rossiya 24 television channel.

"Positive changes will outline soon in the settlement of the Korean Peninsula's nuclear problem, since the president of the Republic of Korea, like the population of the country, is concerned about the situation, and the new president believes his priority task is to normalize the situation in Korea," he said.

On May 10, Moon Jae-in became the president of South Korea. He has said that Seoul wants to jointly denuclearize the Korean Peninsula together with Beijing.

"The leadership of the Republic of Korea, as before, views Russia as an influential actor, as a country which has much influence on the Korean peninsula, as one with friendly relations with North Korea and which has certain leverage with Pyongyang. In this regard, we hope that the new Korean leadership will intensify cooperation with our country in pursuit of peaceful ways to resolve the Korean issue," Timonin said.

DPRK leader Kim Jong-il, center, at a ceremony to open a new residential area on Ryomyong Street in Pyongyang. - Sputnik International
Asia
DPRK Ambassador to UK: N Korea Will Hold Nuclear Test Whenever Leader Kim Wants
The situation on the Korean peninsula aggravated in recent months as North Korea carried out a number of missile launches and nuclear tests , which are considered to be in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions.

 

The most recent missile test allegedly took place on April 29 from a site north of Pyongyang. Japan, South Korea and the United States said the test appeared to have failed as the missile broke-up within North Korean territory.

On May 3, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States is preparing to impose additional sanctions on North Korea if Pyongyang continues to pursue ballistic and nuclear weapons.

DPRK leader Kim Jong-un at a ceremony to open a new residential area on Ryomyong Street in Pyongyang. - Sputnik International
'No Reality Would Match': Pentagon Brushes Off Claims of Attempt to Murder Kim
As a response to the potential use of nuclear weapons, the United States sent a strike group led by US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson to the Korean Peninsula in early April, where it began exercises with the South Korean navy.

US media reported on mid-April that US President Donald Trump might order a strike against North Korea in light of its military activities. The North Korean top officials said the country was ready for nuclear attacks in case of possible US military aggression.

The crisis is aggravated by the deployment of the US THAAD air defense system in South Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives for the official opening of the Ryomyong residential area, a collection of more than a dozen apartment buildings, on Thursday, April 13, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea. - Sputnik International
Asia
US, S Korea Try to Assassinate Kim Jong-un With Biochemical Weapon - Pyongyang
The THAAD agreement was reached by Seoul and Washington in July 2016. The move came amid growing tensions spurred by North Korea's recurring ballistic and nuclear missile tests.

The THAAD system has a range of some 200 kilometers (125 miles) and is designed to intercept short, medium and intermediate ballistic missiles at the terminal incoming stage. The move to deploy it in South Korea has been criticized by neighboring China and Russia as inappropriate, possibly disproportionate, and affecting other countries' interests.

 

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала