Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov criticized North Korea on Saturday for announcing that it had developed nuclear weapons, saying that if true, the country had made a «wrong choice.» North Korea announced for the first time Thursday that it has nuclear weapons, and rejected moves to restart six-way disarmament talks. It said it needs atomic weapons as protection against what it sees as an increasingly hostile United States, and called for bilateral talks with Washington on the issue. «If the information proves accurate, I would say North Korea has made a wrong choice,» Ivanov told a meeting of the world's top defense officials at an annual conference in Munich. «And we have to remember that this state is sharing a common border with Russia.» Since 2003, the United States, North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia have held three rounds of talks in Beijing aimed at persuading the North to abandon nuclear weapons development in return for economic and diplomatic rewards. No significant progress has been made. Ivanov rejected North Korea's push for bilateral talks with the United States, saying: «we should do all we can to keep that state in the (nuclear nonproliferation) treaty framework and for that purpose, compromise solutions will be required ... within the ongoing six party talks.» He also stressed that, while Russia is not interested in increasing its own nuclear inventory, «Russia will remain an important nuclear power bearing its responsibility for nuclear deterrence.» Russia's nuclear weapons are not «geared against any individual country,» Ivanov said. Ivanov emphasized that Russia was becoming closer to NATO, including this month launching a peacekeeping brigade expected to work alongside the alliance.
