Russia Fully Supports Gradual Removal Of North Korea Sanctions - Ambassador

Russia supports the gradual easing and then removal of sanctions against North Korea, Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora said on Friday, adding that Moscow and Pyongyang had many joint projects in various fields planned.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2018) Russia supports the gradual easing and then removal of sanctions against North Korea, Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora said on Friday, adding that Moscow and Pyongyang had many joint projects in various fields planned.

The UN Security Council has repeatedly imposed sanctions on North Korea over the country's nuclear and ballistic missile tests. Russia said in October that it was time to consider the possibility of relaxing the international restrictions against Pyongyang amid its pledged commitment to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

"We are ready � and the president [Vladimir Putin] said this � to take part in ensuring security guarantees for North Korea. That is very important because our Korean friends trust us. We know that. We are absolutely calling for the easing and then removal of sanctions," Matsegora told the Channel Five broadcaster.

The ambassador pointed out that the situation around the Korean Peninsula was developing in line with a road map proposed by Moscow, despite the fact it was not widely acknowledged.

"We have big plans on joint economic projects that may give a fresh impetus to the development of the North Korean economy. I am sure that sooner or later these great projects will be implemented. I have no doubt in that," the ambassador added.

He stressed that the Russian-North Korean economic ties were negatively affected by the international sanctions against Pyongyang.

"Russia is fully complying with the demands of the UN Security Council. That severely damages our economic relations. The trade between our countries decreased by 70 percent," Matsegora said.

According to the ambassador, the number of North Koreans employed in Russia has decreased from 34,000 to 11,000 after the last year's resolution of the UN Security Council.

Matsegora also criticized the US policy of persecuting Russian companies for the development of trade relations with North Korea.

"They persecute any Russian company that engages in trade with North Korea, even if their goods do not fall under the UN resolutions ... We are trying to ... change the situation. For example, we are now actively calling for giving North Korea an opportunity to purchase civilian aircraft. The country is in dire need of updating its air fleet, but this cannot be done," the ambassador said.

He added that Russia and North Korea wanted to develop the joint Rajin-Khasan transport infrastructure project, which had stalled over the sanctions against Pyongyang.

The situation on the Korean Peninsula has improved since the beginning of this year. During this time, North Korean leader Kim Jon Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have held several meetings, with Kim even having a historic summit with US President Donald Trump. This summit yielded an agreement stipulating that North Korea would make efforts to promote the complete denuclearization of the peninsula in exchange for the United States and South Korea freezing their military drills as well as the potential removal of US sanctions. The decision echoed an earlier Russian-Chinese initiative calling for the end of Pyongyang's nuclear tests in exchange for freezing US military activities near the peninsula.