Russian envoy to Pyongyang voices concerns over Korean Peninsula situation

PYONGYANG, October 16. /TASS/. The situation on the Korean Peninsula is alarming but there is hope that the conflicting sides will opt against a military solution to the problem, Russia’s Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora said in an interview with TASS on Monday. The diplomat noted that Russia’s plan for the North Korean crisis is very timely. "Its first phase envisages the so-called double freeze: North Korea halts its missile and nuclear tests, and the Americans and their allies at least significantly reduce the scale of their military drills, which they conduct here on a regular basis." "After that, new steps will follow and the items have been listed on paper, which is now on the table in Pyongyang and Washington," the ambassador noted. Russia has been calling on all partners to seriously consider this initiative. "Certainly, the plan may not be ideal, any program may have its flaws, especially when this concerns such a difficult situation in which the Korean Peninsula finds itself now. But we need to begin with something," he stressed. "We need to stop, take a look around and understand that actually we have already reached a critical point," he noted. "Our common task is to avoid a disaster. It must not happen, taking into account the power of military alignments, which face each other down here." "We maintain constant contacts with our Korean partners and this is the key task of Russia’s diplomatic mission in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea," Matsegora said. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho has met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov many times, including on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional forum in August in Manila. "As it seems to me, with all the differences in their positions they still find common ground and hear each other out. This is very important," he said. Read more