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.
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.
Source: Xinhua
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