RUSSIA: The Russian Defence Minister has said that North Korea may pose a greater threat than Iraq and that he hoped the crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear programme could be resolved peacefully.
"The potential threat stemming from that part of the world can potentially outweigh what we are witnessing in Iraq," Mr Sergei Ivanov told a news conference on the fringes of a major security conference in Munich yesterday. "We want as a minimum for the situation to revert to the status quo as it was a few months ago.
"We reject any attempts to exert military pressure on a sovereign state. We are convinced that these problems can be resolved through political, diplomatic and economic means."
Russia is the only power in G8 which has good relations with both North and South Korea.
North Korea has said it will talk only to Washington about the nuclear crisis and has demanded that the United States sign a non-aggression pact. US officials say it would be difficult to offer such a treaty, which the US senate would need to ratify.
North Korea yesterday accused the US of seeking to stifle the communist country with plans to boost troops stationed in and near the Korean peninsula as part of a possible war against Iraq. The crisis was sparked in October when the US said Pyongyang had admitted developing nuclear arms.
Last month Russia sent an envoy to North Korea to propose that it return to international agreements on its nuclear programmes and discuss the issues with other governments in exchange for security guarantees and a resumption of humanitarian and economic aid.
"There is currently a flurry of diplomatic activity," Mr Ivanov said, adding that he hoped a "coalition of the willing" - including North and South Korea, the United States, China and Russia - could solve the crisis together. - (Reuters)