PRETORIA. Feb 12 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said North Korea's nuclear test deserves condemnation and a reaction from the UN Security Council. He also said the six-party talks on the nuclear problem on the Korean peninsula must be restarted soon.
"This [nuclear test] must be condemned. It demonstrates that the North Korean leadership has again ignored international law and disregarded the UN Security Council's resolutions, all of which deserves condemnation and an appropriate reaction. The UN Security Council will convene within hours to discuss this problem, I understand," Lavrov said at a press conference in Pretoria.
Lavrov said North Korea must give up its nuclear-rocket programs and re-join the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
He also expressed regret that Pyongyang had discarded Russia's calls despite good neighborly relations between the two countries.
But he expressed disagreement with the "military muscle-building" policy towards the Korean Peninsula. "International law is the counterbalance to the military scenario," he said.
"We have been long proposing that a system of measures to maintain peace in Northeast Asia be developed to ensure security for all countries of the region on the basis of the current multilateral obligations to turn the Korean peninsula into a nuclear free zone. We will continue these efforts jointly with all participants in the six-nation process. We think it is important to work for its soonest possible resumption," Lavrov said.
The six-party talks involve Russia, China, Japan, the U.S. and the two Koreas.