The upcoming UN Security Council debate on North Korea could further destabilise the already deteriorated relations between Washington and Moscow, Russia warned today.
Mr Alexander Losyukov, the foreign ministry's curator of Asian affairs, told ITAR-TASS that the nuclear standoff on the Korean peninsula was "very dangerous and not developing in the direction of an easing of tensions, but rather the other way."
|
"We need to take urgent measures to cool off the situation," he said.
Russia has been pushing for direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang, a position also supported by North Korea but opposed by the United States.
Mr Losyukov took a dim view of tomorrow's UN debate on the conflict, arguing it could do little good unless United States and North Korea first agreed to adopt a common approach to solving the standoff.
"The most important thing is to, first, try to clear up relations between the United States and North Korea, so that the (two sides') fears about each other are eliminated," Mr Losyukov said.
"Otherwise, the UN Security Council discussion could, instead, become a launching pad for a further unraveling of relations," he said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency referred North Korea to the Security Council on February 12th after Pyongyang expelled UN inspectors from its nuclear complex at Yongbyon.
The United States has been pressing the United Nations to take up the North Korean issue since last October, when Washington accused Pyongyang of running a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 accord.
But China and Russia fear that bringing North Korea before the Security Council will drive the impoverished country deeper into isolation.
AFP