On September 11, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2375 that reflected the global community’s disapproval of North Korea’s September 3 nuclear tests and was a natural response to Pyongyang’s serious violation of previous UNSC resolutions.

In the course of intense work to agree the text of the resolution, together with our Chinese partners, we managed to significantly correct the United States’ extremely harsh draft that essentially sought to strangle North Korea’s economy and could have had catastrophic humanitarian consequences for people in North Korea. As a result, we ensured the continuation of the major Russian-North Korean Khasan−Rajin coal transit project, and direct flights between the two countries. We also eliminated the demands to impose sanctions on North Korea’s top leadership, the government and the Workers’ Party of Korea, as well as to introduce a full embargo on oil and oil product supplies to North Korea. The provisions concerning inspections of suspicious vessels at sea were relaxed and brought in compliance with international law. The demand for the forced deportation of North Korean migrant workers was also excluded. An important political component was included, stating that it would be unacceptable to instigate a conflict and that it is imperative to reach a political and diplomatic settlement of the Korean Peninsula’s issues.

We proceed from the premise that the sole purpose of the sanctions regime against North Korea is to urge its leadership to abandon their nuclear missile activity prohibited by UN Security Council resolutions.

We call on all UN member-states to strictly follow Resolution 2375 in full, in the interests of normalising the situation around the Korean Peninsula. Primarily, this concerns the intention, enshrined in the document, to reach a peaceful political and diplomatic resolution of the situation through dialogue, and the importance of intensifying efforts to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula and associated tensions.

The Russian Federation has consistently supported the immediate start of the negotiation process and is engaged in proactive coordination with stakeholders to find a mutually acceptable and comprehensive solution to the issues of the Korean Peninsula, including on the basis of the settlement roadmap proposed by Russia and China.