Moscow Says Seoul Should Urge US to Begin Direct Talks with DPRK

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 01, 2003

Moscow Says Seoul Should Urge US to Begin Direct Talks with DPRK

Moscow has urged Seoul on Monday to exert "sober influence" on Washington and press it into direct talks with Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Interfax reported.

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Moscow has urged Seoul on Monday to exert "sober influence" on Washington and press it into direct talks with Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Interfax reported.

After meeting with South Korean national security advisor Ra Jong Yil, who is in the Russian capital for a two-day working visit, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said that only direct negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington could resolvethe crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

Losyukov revealed that South Korea is asking Russia to restrainDPRK, while Russia is pushing South Korea to exert a sober influence on the United States, according to Interfax report.

Russia is also prepared to take steps to overcome the crisis. "If we are to move further, progress must be made in US-DPRK contacts," Interfax quoted Losyukov as saying.

Russia has been trying to arrange direct talks between DPRK andthe United States, but Washington has rejected such negotiations, arguing that an agreement must be reached jointly by all regional powers.

Seoul attaches great significance to dialogue with Russia on issues of regional security, including the settlement of the DPRK's nuclear program issue, Itar-tass news agency cited South Korean Ambassador in Moscow Chung Tae-ik as saying.

In his view, the return of DPRK to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty would help ease tension on the Korean Peninsula, Itar-tass reported.

Ra Jong Yil also held discussions here Monday with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. The envoy's visit is part of South Korea's new diplomatic drive to find a solution to the crisis, with Foreign Minister Yoon Young-Kwan meeting US Vice President Dick Cheney and US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington at theweekend.

The advisor said prior to the talks that he was ready to discuss "Seoul's proposal to arrange for Russian natural gas supplies to North Korea in exchange for Pyongyang's rejection of its nuclear program," ITAR-Tass reported.

The envoy's visit to Moscow "reflects the South Korean leadership's serious concern about the situation on the Korean Peninsula," Losyukov was quoted by Interfax as saying.

The crisis on the Korean Peninsula broke out in October when Washington said DPRK had admitted to running a secret nuclear program in breach of a 1994 bilateral accord.

Since then Pyongyang has kicked out international weapons inspectors, pulled out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and fired up a reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear plant that is capable of producing weapons grade plutonium.

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