North Korea should return to nuclear negotiations and allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access to the country's nuclear facilities, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The IAEA will send inspectors to monitor North Korean nuclear facilities once it reaches an agreement with Pyongyang, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said in mid-December. In November 2010, North Korea announced it had expanded its nuclear program with thousands of centrifuges for uranium enrichment at the plant in Yongbyon.
Russian and North Korean foreign ministers held consultations on bilateral relations between the countries, the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the denuclearization of the region.
In order for the resumption of negotiations, North Korea should take constructive steps: "announce its readiness to return to the six-party talks without preliminary conditions based on the joint statement by China, North Korea, Russia, South Korea, the United States and Japan from September 19, 2005, impose a moratorium on production and testing of nuclear weapons, and on launches of rockets with ballistic technologies, agree on the inspection by IAEA experts of facilities for enriching uranium and on the inclusion of North Korea's uranium dossier into the agenda of talks, invite IAEA inspectors to the nuclear center," the ministry said.
North Korea has been subjected to several rounds of UN Security Council sanctions since it declared itself a nuclear power in 2005. The state broke off talks with South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia on its nuclear program in April 2009, after the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution condemning its missile tests.
MOSCOW, March 14 (RIA Novosti)
