News / Russia

Russia censures ‘disproportionate’ US arms build-up in South Korea

Wednesday, 13 April 2016 5:51 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 13 April 2016 5:50 AM ]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (© Reuters)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has condemned the “disproportionate” build-up of US weapons and munitions on the troubled Korean Peninsula.

Lavrov said during a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday that the deployment of missile systems in the area will create a real threat to the region's security and strategic stability.

“Russia and China are no less concerned about the desire of individual states to use the difficult situation on the Korean Peninsula to build up their military presence in the region," he said.

Lavrov said the US is loading into the region "new weapons, including the most recent weapons, which are so technologically advanced that it is completely disproportionate to the real threat.”

Moscow is “very concerned about the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” he said.

“It is necessary to do everything to calm it down and to prevent, you know, a negative spiral,” and avoid “engaging in a vicious circle,” Lavrov added.

A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful intercept test, in this undated handout photo provided by the US Department of Defense. (© Reuters)

Tensions between North and South Korea have escalated since the start of 2016 after Pyongyang’s nuclear test in January and its long-range rocket launch the next month, followed by harshest sanctions imposed on North Korea.

Pyongyang said the rocket launch was aimed at placing an earth observation satellite into orbit. However, Washington and Seoul denounced the move as a cover for an intercontinental ballistic missile test.

North Korea has pledged to develop a nuclear arsenal in an effort to protect itself from the US military, which occasionally deploys nuclear-powered warships and aircraft capable of carrying atomic weapons in the region.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches a ballistic rocket launch drill at an unknown location in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 11, 2016.

Washington also holds joint military maneuvers with Seoul, which Pyongyang views as preparations for war and a direct threat against its security.

Also on Tuesday, Lavrov praised Russo-Chinese relations, noting that they “are probably in the best form from all previous periods of our common history.”

“It is a relationship of strategic cooperation and multifaceted partnership as the leaders of our countries have assessed its status. It constantly deepens and develops for the benefit of our countries and peoples,” he said.

Lavrov stressed that cooperation with China is a “very important stabilizing factor” despite “turbulence in world politics.”

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