MOSCOW. March 15 (Interfax) - Moscow is hopeful that Washington will decide to suspend military exercises off the Korean Peninsula ahead of planned upcoming talks with North Korea, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said.
"We hope that common sense will prevail in Washington and a decision will be made to suspend maneuvers at least for the period of negotiations," Morgulov told the Izvestia newspaper.
"It is difficult to imagine that such an unprecedented event [a meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump] and even the process of preparations for it could be accompanied by "saber-rattling" on the Korean Peninsula and around it, because heightened military activity itself carries the potential threat of an armed clash," the deputy foreign minister said.
It was reported that South Korean National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong and South Korea's National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon visited Pyongyang and met with the North Korean leader on March 5-6. An agreement was reached after the meeting that the leaders of North Korea and South Korea would meet at the end of April.
Pyongyang also said that it stands ready to launch consultations on normalizing relations with Washington, during which it could discuss denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Chung Eui-yong, for his part, said that Trump is ready to meet with the North Korean leader by May.