By RIA Novosti,
Beijing : Russia and China Friday voiced their support for a peaceful solution to the North Korean nuclear issue and urged all parties involved in the negotiation process to continue their dialogue.
Visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao signed a joint declaration to this effect following their talks in Bejing.
“Both countries have positively assessed the progress of the six-party talks on the (North) Korean nuclear problem and urged all involved parties to continue dialogue, negotiations and set a course to find a peaceful solution to the problem,” the document said.
The six-party talks that started in 2003 involve the two Koreas, China, Russia, the US and Japan.
The declaration also said that Moscow and Beijing intended to continue playing an active role in finding a settlement to the issue.
Six-party negotiations stalled after Pyongyang failed last December to reveal all the details of its nuclear programme, in particular information on uranium enrichment and nuclear technology, which it is suspected of passing to other countries.
Pyongyang started disabling its Yongbyon nuclear plant late last year as part of a deal with the US, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea in exchange for economic aid and diplomatic incentives.
Besides the North Korean nuclear programme the leaders of Russia and China also mentioned in the joint declaration issues concerning Iran’s controversial nuclear programme, restoring war-torn Iraq, the Middle East situation and Kosovo’s independence.
The declaration stated that all the issues should be resolved by means of political dialogue taking into account global security needs.