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Russia does not see N. Korea as nuclear power: envoy
SEOUL, Jan. 21 (Yonhap) -- Russia does not acknowledge North Korea as a nuclear power and will continue working with regional countries to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear drive, Moscow's envoy said Wednesday.
Glev Ivashendsov, Russian ambassador to South Korea, said regional stability is "crucial to Russia's economic development," as Moscow is pushing for natural resources development in Siberia and the Far East.
North Korea detonated its first atomic device in 2006. The relatively small underground test had less than a kiloton in yield, below what is considered a successful nuclear test.
"The explosion occurred just 177km from the Russian territory, so this issue has direct repercussions on Russia," the envoy said in a speech to a forum hosted by state-run Korean Global Foundation.
Stalled negotiations aimed at terminating North Korea's nuclear weapons program are expected to move forward only after the United States, a member of the talks, rolls out new Pyongyang policy under the newly inaugurated Barack Obama administration.
North Korea has claimed it has joined the nuclear weapons club with the test in 2006. Participants of the nuclear talks, also including South Korea, China and Japan, reject the North's claim.
The envoy said Russia's energy project in its eastern region will be "as large as the development of the American West."
"Russia needs security guarantees in neighboring countries for it," he said.
To break the impasse in inter-Korean relations, the envoy suggested Seoul and Moscow push for joint economic projects, such as connecting the Trans-Korean Railway and the Trans-Siberian Railway that will run across the Korean Peninsula and to Russia.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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