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Russian Speaker Hails Russia, China's Roles in North Korea, Iran Issues

Posted on: Sunday, 25 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS

Beijing, 25 September: Russian and Chinese diplomacy plays an important role in the settlement of the Korean Peninsula's nuclear problem, Sergey Mironov, Speaker of the Federation Council, told ITAR-TASS today after talks with the chairman of the National People's Congress [NPC] Standing Committee, Wu Bangguo.

"The first positive developments have emerged in the resolution of this problem," Mironov said. The Korean Peninsula "must by all means be free from nuclear weapons", he underlined. "However, the DPRK's [Democratic People's Republic of Korea's] interests must also by all means be taken into consideration," Mironov thought.

Pyongyang should be able to "count on the possibility of the peaceful use of nuclear energy and must obtain guarantees from Washington that no force will be used or other action taken against the DPRK", Mironov added. "We hope that the next round of negotiations, which will also take place in Beijing, will result in positive developments," he summed up.

Mironov also spoke about the problem of Iran's nuclear programme. "In the latest vote at the UN Security Council [as received; should be IAEA] on whether to refer Iran's nuclear dossier to the Security Council for consideration, Russia and China abstained," he remarked. "We believe that the possibilities for a solution to be found to this situation by the IAEA are far from exhausted, as well as that Iran unquestionably is entitled to develop a civilian nuclear programme," Mironov stressed.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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