SEOUL. April 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Pyongyang might ignore a UN Security Council resolution concerning North Korea's nuclear program, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has said.
"I do not rule out that, if the UN Security Council makes some decisions on this issue, Pyongyang might ignore them, referring to precedents," Ivanov told the press in Seoul on Thursday.
"I believe that only political-diplomatic means, involving all parties concerned, should be used to return the situation to the status quo (where Pyongyang would rejoin the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty - Interfax) and to make North Korea admit IAEA experts back into the country," Ivanov said.
"Of course, this can be accomplished only if Pyongyang receives full and absolute guarantees of its security," he said.
"If it comes to the point of whether Russia is prepared to issue such security guarantees, Russia will be prepared to this," he said.
Taking questions from journalists, Ivanov noted, "If we talk frankly about the interrelation between the crisis in Iraq and the situation in North Korea, in my view, this interrelation is clearly visible."
"This interrelation reveals itself in the fact that, as early as a year ago, certain signs indicated that Pyongyang would make efforts to strengthen its defense capability," the minister said.
"As the situation surrounding Iraq was developing, the Pyongyang leadership came to the conclusion that territorial integrity and independence can be guaranteed only through the possession of means of deterrence," he said.
"Further developments, including the war in Iraq, has confirmed this anticipation. I am presenting not Russia's logic, but Pyongyang's logic," he said.
Commenting further on the war in Iraq, Ivanov said, "the UN's credibility and authority has received quite a strong blow."
"Developments have shown that many countries are beginning to act using their own discretion, without caring much about international law. There is nothing good in this scenario," he said.