Russia, China ready to participate in providing guarantees to North Korea - Lavrov

SOCHI, May 13. /TASS/. Russia and China are prepared to work on providing security guarantees to North Korea after the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with China’s State Council member, Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Sochi on Monday. "I’d like to point out that the contacts that began to develop between the leaders of the United States and North Korea proceeded in conformity with the road map that we had drafted together with China, from confidence restoration measures to further direct contacts," Lavrov said. "We hope that at a certain point a comprehensive agreement will be achieved on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and on the creation of a system of peace and security in general in Northeast Asia, including concrete firm guarantees of North Korea’s security, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated on many occasions, including the results of the Russian-North Korean summit in Vladivostok on April 25." "Such guarantees will be no easy to provide, but this is an absolutely mandatory part of a future agreement," Lavrov said. "Russia and China are prepared to work on such guarantees." The chief Russian diplomat stressed the idea progress towards a settlement on the Korean Peninsula should be reciprocal. "The confidence-building measures Pyongyang has proposed look rather serious: an end to nuclear tests and the launches of ballistic missile launches and the elimination of one of the test sites. In response, our US and South Korean partners suspended military exercises. However, just recently there was a large-scale military exercise that drew an extremely negative reaction from Pyongyang." Lavrov pointed out that denuclearization must apply to the whole Korean Peninsula, and not just its northern part. "We’ve called for moving forward along this track on many occasions, including the Russian-Chinese summit nearly two years ago, in the summer of 2017. Russia and China welcome the dialogue between the US and North Korean leaders and seek to encourage it in every possible way. "We and our Chinese friends have been taking measures to help all parties calm down and create conditions necessary not just for conducting a dialogue, but for achieving mutually acceptable, reciprocal agreements," Lavrov said. Read more