Russia's foreign minister has urged the United States and North Korea to settle bilateral problems in order to pave the way for the resumption of six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program, REPORTED AP. «The settlement of financial problems in relations between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea would be very important for providing conditions to resume the talks,» Sergey Lavrov said Friday in an interview with the Kuwaiti KUNA news agency which was posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry's Web site Saturday. The six-party talks _ involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the U.S. _ have been stalled since November. North Korea has refused to attend them, in anger at U.S. financial restrictions blocking the regime's access to outside banks because of alleged counterfeiting of U.S. dollars and money laundering. «It's extremely dangerous to make things interdependent here,» Lavrov said. «This problem emerged separately from the six-nation talks. It should be resolved independently from them as well.» «Both Pyongyang and Washington should understand this. It is irresponsible to stick to the bare principles here. Both sides should show flexibility,» Lavrov added. Lavrov reaffirmed Russia's condemnation of North Korea's nuclear test, saying that Pyongyang acquiring nuclear weapons would set a bad example to others. On Saturday, Lavrov had lunch with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who visited Moscow to discuss North Korea, Iran and other issues.
