Russia and the U.S. have called on North Korea to implement all UN Security Council prescriptions and meet its commitments to the countries in the six-party talks, and do not expect Pyongyang to undertake any actions that would increase tension on the Korean Peninsula, the Russian and U.S. presidents said following their meeting in Mexico on Monday.
“We do not believe that any actions will be taken on North Korea’s part that would lead to an escalation of tension on the Korean Peninsula,” Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama said in a joint statement following their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
They called on North Korea to meet all the commitments it assumed under the joint declaration by China, North Korea, South Korea, Russia, the U.S. and Japan of September 19, 2005.
“As partners in the six-party negotiating process, we are ready to continue joint efforts o achieve the verifiable de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in accordance with the joint declaration,” the statement said.
North Korea, which withdrew from the six-party disarmament talks on its nuclear program three years ago, agreed in February to suspend uranium enrichment, as well as nuclear and long-range missile tests in return for U.S. food aid, opening the way for the restart of negotiations.
However, the UN Security Council tightened its sanctions against N. Korea late in April after the failed launch of a ballistic rocket that Pyongyang said was to put a weather satellite into orbit.
