MEDIATION NEEDED TO DEFUSE TENSIONS BETWEEN THE US AND THE NORTH KOREA

Back in July 2017, the Russian and Chinese foreign ministries adopted a joint statement following the talks of the countries’ leaders in Moscow on the issues of the Korean peninsula.

1. Russia and China called on North Korea as a way of voluntary political settlement to declare a moratorium on nuclear tests of nuclear explosive devices and test launches of ballistic missiles.
2. The parties should start negotiations and approve common principles of relations, including non-use of force, renunciation of violence, peaceful coexistence and intentions to make efforts for de-nuclearizing the Korean peninsula, aiming at a complex settlement of all issues, including the nuclear one.
3. Russia and China expressed serious concerns over the development of the situation on the Korean Peninsula and around it. The escalation of military and political tension in the region, which is fraught with an armed conflict, requires the international community to take collective measures to resolve the situation peacefully through dialogue and consultations. Russia and China are committed to the tasks of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
4. The parties oppose any statements and actions leading to tension and aggravation of contradictions, call upon all the states involved to show restraint, to give up provocative actions and bellicose rhetoric, to demonstrate readiness for dialogue without preconditions, to jointly make active efforts to relieve tensions.
5. Russia and China reaffirmed that the deployment of THAAD missile defense systems on Northeast Asia seriously damages the interests of strategic security of regional states, including Russia and China, does not contribute to the goals of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, nor does it contribute to peace and stability in the region. Russia and China call upon the countries concerned to immediately stop and abolish this deployment, and agreed to take the necessary measures to protect the interests of the two countries in the security sphere, as well as to ensure strategic balance in the region."

On 18 September 2017, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in New York urged all parties to stick to a diplomatic approach to the Korean Peninsula crisis, condemning both the reckless tests of Pyongyang and belligerent rhetoric of the US. “We have to calm down the hotheads and understand that we need pauses, we need contacts,”. The ongoing exchange of threats surrounding the Korean standoff is unacceptable, Lavrov said. Likewise, “the nuclear-missile gambles” on the part of Pyongyang and calls to wage war on the Korean Peninsula do not contribute to defusing the tensions, he added. The efforts of certain countries to mediate the situation on the peninsula are welcome, and certain “neutral European countries” are ready to play that role (Sweden, Finland, Switzerland).