MOSCOW. May 10 (Interfax) - The pattern of dealing with the Iranian nuclear program could be used in approaching the nuclear problem of the Korean Peninsula, even though the mechanisms set out in the Iranian nuclear deal should not be seen as ones setting precedents, a high-ranking Russian diplomat said.
"Certain Iranian experience could actually prove useful and applicable in the context of the nuclear problem of the Korean Peninsula, which is currently the most pressing and potentially explosive challenge to the nonproliferation regime," Mikhail Ulyanov, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control, said at the first session of the 2017 Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in Vienna.
The Korean Peninsula problem should be approached "through creative diplomatic and political decisions and painstaking negotiations", he said in a statement available on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website.
"UN Security Council Resolution 2231 adopted in support of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the nuclear problem of Iran contains a special operative paragraph stating that the JCPOA provisions should not be viewed as setting precedents," he said.
"We would like to urge everybody to strictly abide by this provision and refrain from any attempts to apply the JCPOA verification mechanisms to any other countries," Ulyanov said.
"Russia does not accept North Korea's self-proclaimed nuclear status," he said.
"We don't hide from Pyongyang that we believe that the line towards development of nuclear and missile capabilities will not help in maintaining the country's security but on the contrary, will lead to extremely negative effects, both for the DPRK itself and the regional situation as a whole," Ulyanov said.
Moscow insists that Pyongyang must strictly abide by the relevant decisions of the UN Security Council but believes that the restrictions should not narrow "the window of opportunity" for talks or worsen the humanitarian situation in North Korea, he said.
"The tensions in the peninsula are not only due to Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs but also a result of the elevated military activity of the United States and its allies in Northeast Asia," Ulyanov said.
At a time when the country's leadership senses a direct threat to its security "Pyongyang will not renounce nuclear weapons", he said.
No progress in solving the Korean Peninsula problems can be achieved "without easing general military-political tension, stopping to develop military infrastructure, decreasing the scale of the maneuvers held, and building an atmosphere of confidence between the regional nations," he said.