Russian FM:

US Wants to Strangle North Korea until It Submits

TEHRAN (defapress)- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Washington wants to strangle Pyongyang until it submits, adding that Moscow will not back such an approach and will continue to seek a way to integrate North Korea into the world community, not isolate it.

News ID: 67720

Date: 25 December 2017 - 15:05

“You can’t strangle North Korea. You can’t impose a total blockade,” he stressed in an interview with RT.

Russian Foreign Minister said nobody in their right mind would want to start a war on the Korean Peninsula, adding that Washington wants to strangle North Korea into submission.

“I don’t think that anyone who is in his right mind would like to start a war on the Korean Peninsula. Not only Russian, but also American experts and American officials voiced the assessments of the consequences [of a potential Korean conflict], including the enormous loss of human life,” Lavrov said.

Moscow hopes that there are people in the US who understand the need “to defuse” the tension over North Korea and turn to a political and diplomatic solution, the foreign minister added.

In September, Moscow received a signal from Washington that the US wanted dialogue and that military drills on the Korean Peninsula would be postponed until spring 2018, Lavrov underlined, saying however, Washington later announced new military drills in autumn and North Korea responded to them “with a new missile.”

“China and Russia proposed to have a double freeze plan [on North Korea]. North Korea won’t launch anything and test anything and the US won’t hold drills. But the US responded that it’s legitimate to have military exercises,” Lavrov added.

The first step forward should be taken by the side which is stronger and smarter, the Russian diplomat noted.

“Together with China we believe that all these mutually-provocative actions need to be frozen. Dialogue must be started without any precondition,” he underscored.

The UN Security Council unanimously imposed a new round of sanctions on North Korea on Friday, following its latest ballistic missile test launch in late November. Pyongyang is already under an extremely harsh economic sanctions regime, but the latest round further slashed its refined petroleum product imports and banned all remaining major exports. The measure also demanded the repatriation of all North Koreans working abroad within 24 months.

North Korea has been under a raft of crippling United Nations sanctions since 2006 over its nuclear tests as well as multiple rocket and missile launches.

Pyongyang has fired a ballistic missile which splashed down in the Sea of Japan. North Korean leader personally oversaw the launch of the ICBM, which Pyongyang claims is a Hwasong-15, tipped with super-large heavy warhead and capable of hitting the whole mainland of the US.

Tensions have been building on the peninsula following a series of nuclear and missile tests by Pyongyang as well as threats of war and personal insults traded between US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Trump and Kim have exchanged a series of personal insults, with Trump calling Kim a "little rocket man" and Pyongyang calling the US president a "mentally deranged dotard" and "old lunatic".

In 2017, North Korea carried out 20 ballistic missile launches, while the United States and its allies, for their part, are constantly conducting far-reaching sea drills in the region. The parties are exchanging tough rhetoric and admit that any scenario - including military action - is possible.

Pyongyang has firmly defended its military program as a deterrent against the hostile policies of the US and its regional allies, including South Korea and Japan.

US President has vowed to impose additional "major sanctions" against North Korea, while Washington has thousands of troops in the region, partially in South Korea and Japan, and routinely threatens the North with military action to stop its weapons program.