Russian FM urges N. Korea to abandon nuclear program

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged North Korea on Friday to abandon its nuclear and missile programs.

"The recent actions by the DPRK that violate U.N. Security Council resolutions must be halted. We call upon Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear missile program and return to the Nonproliferation Treaty regime," Lavrov said in his U.N. General Assembly address, referring to the North's nuclear and missile tests.

Lavrov also took a swipe at the U.S., saying it is "inadmissible to use the situation as a pretext for massive militarization of Northeast Asia and deployment of another position area for U.S. global missile defense system."

He was referring to the THAAD missile defense system that the U.S. plans to deploy to South Korea to defend against North Korean missile threats. China and Russia have expressed strong opposition to the planned deployment.

"All sides must refrain from further escalation of tensions to embark on the way toward political and diplomatic settlement of the nuclear problem of the Korean Peninsula through the resumption of six-party talks," Lavrov said. (Yonhap)