Russia’s foreign minister says the term denuclearization when applied to North Korea is meaningless in light of what he described as a serious regional security threat posed by the United States, South Korea and Japan.
Sergey Lavrov also accused them of openly calling the US-South Korea alliance a “nuclear alliance” like NATO.
The comments were posted online on Thursday.
Lavrov said the United States and South Korea are attempting to form a tripartite with Japan, and accused Tokyo of being “outspoken in its commitment to remilitarisation.”
Lavrov said denuclearization under such conditions is “off the table.”
Russia has strengthened ties with North Korea since invading Ukraine. In June, Moscow and Pyongyang signed a treaty pledging mutual military assistance in a contingency.