MOSCOW, September 15 (Reuters) – Vladimir Putin assured Friday that Russia, accused by Seoul and Washington of violating United Nations resolutions by its rapprochement with North Korea, had no intention of breaking its international commitments .
The Kremlin added that Moscow and Pyongyang did not sign any agreements, military or otherwise, during North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia, where he held talks with Vladimir Putin.
Russia, which officially supports the sanctions put in place by the United Nations since 2006 against the Pyongyang regime after a first nuclear test, said it wanted to deepen its cooperation with North Korea following the summit. Seoul and Washington suspect the two countries of seeking to agree behind the scenes on arms exchanges.
“Korea is our neighbor and we must, one way or another, build good neighborly relations with our neighbors,” Vladimir Putin said.
“Yes, there are special elements associated with the Korean peninsula. We talk about it, openly, we never violate anything and in this specific case, we are not going to violate anything,” added the Russian president.
Kim Jong-un, who is still in Russia two days after his meeting with Vladimir Putin, on Friday inspected a combat aircraft assembly plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur targeted by American sanctions. (Felix Light, French version Jean-Stéphane Brosse, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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