Moscow - North Korea's foreign minister met in Moscow on Wednesday with his Russian counterpart for nuclear talks bolstered by a US decision to drop Pyongyang from its terrorism blacklist.
"A positive dynamic has emerged in the solution of the nuclear problem of the Korean peninsula," Moscow said ahead of the talks between North Korea's Pak Ui-Chun and Russia's Sergei Lavrov.
Washington removed North Korea from the blacklist on Saturday in exchange for full inspections of its nuclear facilities, with Pyongyang responding by announcing it would dismantle plants as agreed in six-nation talks.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday that North Korea had granted the UN atomic watchdog access to its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon after having barred inspectors last week.
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Seoul's negotiator Kim Sook said the verification deal normalised a six-nation talks process, even though there was still a long way to go to achieve full denuclearisation.
That process - which involves the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the United States - produced an agreement last year offering the North critical energy aid and diplomatic concessions in return for disarmament.
Moscow, for its part, has asked all parties to continue to work towards a solution based on a joint declaration made between the six parties more than three years ago.
Russia "expresses its readiness to cooperate with its partners in achieving a verifiable denuclearisation of the North Korean peninsula," the Russian foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.
The 2005 declaration called on the North Koreans to halt its nuclear military programme and rejoin the Non-Proliferation Treaty in return for one day being able to develop a civilian nuclear energy programme.
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