Translated material
Without emotions and hysterics
Russia and China will not allow the UN to punish North Korea
Russia is “disappointed” with North Korea’s missile experiments, Vladimir Putin said yesterday during an online conference. He said he would prefer not to receive "gifts" of missile parts falling without warning from the sky near our borders. But Putin reassured the public with the message that Russian tracking devices, it turns out, did not record the fall of parts of North Korean missiles “not only into our territorial waters, but even into our economic zone.” The launch of several North Korean ballistic missiles on the night of July 5 alarmed residents of the Far East and caused great irritation in Japan and the United States.“There is no reason to believe that the North Korean missile program is aimed at the Russian Federation,” Mr. Putin assured. And the United States should not worry: the DPRK does not have the ability to create a missile with a range of 6 thousand km, although American sources reported the launch of just such a missile. “Taking into account the level of technological development of the North Korean defense industry, at least in the foreseeable historical perspective, this is impossible,” the Russian president said.
However, Japan and South Korea do not have to relax. Vladimir Putin suggests that the range of North Korean missiles could be increased to 3-3.5 thousand km - “this may be of concern to some countries, so this issue should be on the agenda of the six-party talks.” Negotiations around Pyongyang's nuclear plans began in 2002 with the participation of the two Koreas, Russia, China, the United States and Japan. But for more than six months the work of the “six” has been frozen due to the confrontation between Washington and Pyongyang.
On Wednesday, the UN Security Council circulated a tough draft resolution prepared by Tokyo on imposing sanctions against the DPRK. US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton said the initiative had “broad and deep support.” However, Russian and Chinese diplomats have made it clear that Moscow and Beijing will not support this move.
Vladimir Putin yesterday called for action “without emotions,” and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov advised assessing the situation “without hysterics,” explaining that “attempts to immediately talk about any threats against North Korea are counterproductive.”
According to John Bolton, not a single member of the Security Council argued that “North Korea’s missile launch was a good thing.” Yesterday, diplomats were looking for the most appropriate form to express dissatisfaction, choosing between a resolution and a less binding statement by the Chairman of the Security Council. Apparently, this work will continue today. George W. Bush said the United States was seeking a diplomatic way out of the nuclear standoff with North Korea, but warned diplomacy would take time. To conduct negotiations with key regional players, the United States is sending the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, the head of the American delegation to the six-party talks, Christopher Hill, for consultations in Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo and Moscow these days.
Pyongyang said the missile test was part of regular military exercises to "strengthen sovereign defense power." “Our army will continue to continue missile tests as part of strengthening deterrence forces,” explained a representative of the DPRK Foreign Ministry. South Korean media warn that there are three or four more missiles ready for launch at North Korean test sites.
Senior researcher at the Center for Korean Studies at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Konstantin Asmolov, in a conversation with Vremya Novostei, noted that the North Korean salvo had a certain implication - Pyongyang wanted to show that there were enough missiles in its arsenals and they could even be shot at during maneuvers. This was a signal that in the event of a conflict, the northerners would have something to respond to the enemy. “Kim Jong Il wants the United States to talk to him on an equal footing, and this is why the show of force is taking place. The North Korean leader got what he wanted, but not completely. The launches attracted attention to Pyongyang, but at the same time provoked a tightening of policy towards the DPRK,” the expert notes. Konstantin Asmolov believes that missile issues will be included in the six-party nuclear negotiations, at which Kim Jong Il will confirm the 1999 moratorium on testing long-range ballistic missiles.
The North Korean missile salvo is sure to attract the attention of the G8 summit meeting next week in St. Petersburg. For leaders of the world's leading industrial countries, this topic is not new. In August 2000, Vladimir Putin brought to the G8 summit in Okinawa Kim Jong Il’s proposal to stop developing long-range missiles in exchange for the annual launch of two or three North Korean satellites by developed countries. This idea generated a lot of interest. However, Kim Jong Il subsequently admitted to reporters that the proposal voiced in a conversation with the Russian leader was a joke.