"We have to do everything possible to achieve the goal that we all want to see - the resolution of a nuclear problem on the Korean peninsula," Sergei Lavrov said in an article published by Rossiiskaya Gazeta. "It can be achieved through N. Korea's return to nuclear non-proliferation regime and the elimination of all threats against this regime."
North Korea officially announced Wednesday that it had conducted test launches of ballistic missiles and claimed it was the country's sovereign right. The communist nation launched the missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2, despite a unilateral moratorium on missile tests.
Lavrov has called for an immediate resumption of the six-nation talks started in 2003 involving the U.S., North Korea, China, South Korea, Russia and Japan, and said that the secretive Stalinist regime should confirm it was willing to resume the negotiation process.
He also said the UN Security Council must firmly but calmly assess the situation around the North Korean missile tests and added that immediate sanctions against the country would be counterproductive.
"We are convinced that the UN Security Council must react firmly, but without threats that will provoke threats in response," Lavrov said.
"The reaction should be well-calculated and aimed at resuming the talks," he said. "There is no other way."
