Moscow, Seoul committed to resumption of talks on Korean Peninsula issues, says Lavrov
Mar 25, 2021
Seoul [South Korea], March 25 : Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-Yong on Thursday in Seoul and discussed matters related to Northeast Asia and the resumption of the negotiation process on the entire range of Korean Peninsula issues.
This bilateral summit assumes significance following the recent launch of two ballistic missiles by North Korea.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, " Both Moscow and Seoul are committed to the earliest possible resumption of the negotiation process on the entire range of Korean Peninsula issues."
"On international issues, special attention was paid to the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia as a whole. Both Moscow and Seoul remain committed to an early resumption of the negotiation process between the parties involved in the interests of a lasting resolution of the entire range of issues in the region," Lavrov said after talks with his South Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong, Sputnik reported.
Lavrov also mentioned that Northeast Asia, including the Korean parties, must abandon the arms race in the region.
"We emphasized the importance of efforts to maintain a peaceful and stable situation in Northeast Asia, including, of course, the Korean Peninsula, which implies the refusal of the parties to continue the arms race and to build up military activity in any form," said Lavrov, who is on a two-day visit to Seoul, reported Sputnik.
"I highly appreciate that we are steadily developing the multifaceted bilateral relations after the establishment of diplomatic contacts in 1990," Chung added.
South Korean Foreign Minister also pointed out, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea remained an important economic partner of Russia, the second-biggest one in the Far East.
"In 2019, the [bilateral] trade reached $22.3 billion and the inter-human contacts became the most intensive in the history of the Korea-Russian relations. Although the pandemic urges us to change the usual format of cooperation, I believe that at such moments we must not reduce our contacts and continue the close cooperation to boost the inter-human contacts," Chung said.
On Thursday, North Korea test-fired two ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan, sparking concern in South Korea and Japan.
