Resumption of six-party talks possible: Russian envoy

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Russian Foreign Ministry special envoy Grigory Logvinov said Saturday that it is possible for the " most appropriate format" of the six-party talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula to be resumed.

"When and how can the six-party process be resumed? Is it possible at all? It is. And I think the six-party format is still the most appropriate, considering that the problem should be solved in an extensive multi-format global process," Logvinov told the 2014 Moscow nuclear nonproliferation conference here.

Russia doesn't consider the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear program as a direct threat to its security, he was quoted by the Interfax new agency. But Pyongyang's nuclear program might threaten regional stability and the international nuclear nonproliferation regime, as well as bilateral relations between Russia and the DPRK, he added.

It is necessary to start to reduce military tension in the region, Logvinov said.

However, he noted, "We think that measures of a military nature taking within the framework of military alliance of the United States, South Korea and Japan are openly disproportionate to the nature of war threat."

He stressed that Washington "should not put forward knowingly objectionable and unacceptable preconditions," adding that serious "reciprocal and unbiased" steps are expected to be taken on the part of the United States and its allies.

The six-party talks, which group the DPRK, South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, were launched in 2003 but stalled in December 2008. The DPRK quit the talks in April 2009.

Logvinov urged the DPRK to abandon its nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting of sanctions, which is "the only way for the DPRK to join international cooperation, including certainly in the nuclear power industry."

The DPRK is ready to resume six-party talks on nuclear issues without preconditions, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday after talks with Choe Ryong Hae, visiting special envoy of the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un.

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