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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks before the general debate of the UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 28, 2024. (Xinhua/Yonhap)

Russia declared that the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will remain impossible while the South Korea-US alliance remains elevated to a nuclear level.
 
The Russian Foreign Ministry released a statement Wednesday (local time) announcing, “There can be no talk of any ‘denuclearization’ when the military alliance between the US and the ROK has grown to the ‘nuclear level,’ which is advertised by the South Korean administration.”

ROK stands for Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea. 
 
The statement also claimed that the US and other allies were behind South Korea’s recent statement addressing Russia, contending that “it is obvious that behind the attacks on Moscow there is a clear attempt to justify Seoul’s unprecedented build-up of military preparations with a nuclear component, at the behest of and with the direct participation of the United States and its allies.”
 
Earlier, on Sept. 27, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian minister of foreign affairs, said the notion of denuclearization of North Korea was “off the table.” In response, the South Korean Foreign Ministry voiced regret, saying that such comments are “incredibly irresponsible for a permanent member of the UN Security Council and founding member of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to make.” Russia’s Wednesday statement comes in response to South Korea’s expression of regret.
 
The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized how the US and South Korea have long harbored joint plans to utilize US strategic military assets against North Korea and strengthened a NATO-like trilateral alliance with Japan, arguing that such provocative military moves on the Korean Peninsula heighten tensions and pose threats to security in Northeast Asia.
 
“The construction of the ‘triangle’ by the US, the ROK and Japan and their ‘nuclear games’ began long before Russia and the DPRK signed the new fundamental Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” the ministry maintained, asserting that statements condemning cooperation between Russia and North Korea as threatening “do not stand up to criticism.”

By Kim Won-chul, staff reporter

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