Moscow Welcomes Any Peaceful Initiative Contributing to N Korea Issue Resolution

Russia would welcome any peaceful measures which would contribute to the resolution of the crisis on the Korean peninsula, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department Artyom Kozhin said Thursday commenting on Seoul proposing to reopen military channels with Pyongyang.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – South Korea proposed to hold an inter-Korean military meeting on Friday, July 21, at Tongilgak, a North Korean building in the truce village of Panmunjom, the nation’s vice defense minister, Suh Choo-suk, said at a press conference in Seoul on Monday.

"Overall, we support all peaceful initiatives which are based on the international law. We followed carefully the development of the situation on the Korean peninsula," Kozhin told a briefing.

Should the talks took place as planned, it would be the first dialogue between the military authorities of the two sides in almost three years. Their previous meeting was held on October 15, 2014.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping's latest visit in Moscow, the Russian and Chinese foreign ministries issued a joint statement proposing ways to settle the North Korean issue. Moscow and Beijing urged Pyongyang to refrain from nuclear tests, and called on Washington and Seoul to cease joint drills.

On July 4, North Korea announced it had successfully launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile, saying it traveled 580 miles and reached an altitude of 1,740 miles during its 39-minute flight before accurately hitting a targeted area in the Sea of Japan. The test was sharply criticized by the international community.

Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia was categorically against Pyongyang’s tests, calling them provocations.