Photo : YONHAP News
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reportedly said that Moscow viewed the notion of “denuclearizing” North Korea as a “closed issue.”
According to Reuters and Russia’s Sputnik news agency, Lavrov made the remarks on Thursday answering a question on the Russian foreign ministry’s website.
The Russian top diplomat reportedly said that Russia would stand alongside North Korea in resisting the U.S. expanded nuclear deterrence for South Korea and Japan in the Asia-Pacific region.
Lavrov said that this is clearly a real and extremely serious threat to regional security and in these conditions the term of “denuclearization” as applied to North Korea has lost all meaning, adding this is a “closed issue” for Russia.
Voicing strong opposition to the “senseless” imposition of sanctions by Western countries, Lavrov said that from the beginning, Russia has resolutely expressed its opposition to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s recent resolution against North Korea.
Lavrov said Russia would stand together with North Korea in confronting a joint adversary and consistently strengthen friendship and cooperation with Pyongyang.