RUSSIA: Russian regions bordering Stalinist North Korea are on alert as the crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear programme threatens to explode into conflict, according to a senior Moscow diplomat.
The Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Losyukov, blamed the mounting tension on the intransigence of Pyongyang and Washington, which have been at loggerheads since the White House included North Korea in its "axis of evil", alongside Iran and Iraq.
"Because of the positions of the United States and North Korea, which do not allow the start of talks, unfortunately the situation on the Korean peninsula continues to sharpen and is nearing a point beyond which an uncontrolled reaction could occur," Mr Losyukov said. "We have been forced to think about preventive measures to defend our national interests and, speaking frankly, to defend our population on territories bordering Korea, in case of a serious conflict in the region.
"The Russian leadership has given instructions to the relevant agencies on this matter. Russia's efforts are aimed precisely at preventing a worst-case scenario."
Moscow has sought common ground between a White House which refuses face-to-face talks with an impoverished dictatorship and an isolated Pyongyang regime which wants to deal directly with a US which it suspects of planning war.
Mr Losyukov visited reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il after the US alleged last October that Pyongyang had restarted its uranium-enrichment programme,producing material that could be used in nuclear missiles.
As a result, Washington stopped shipments of desperately needed fuel to North Korea, which subsequently restarted a small nuclear reactor, expelled United Nations arms inspectors and withdrew from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
Talks in the UN Security Council this week got bogged down after Russia and China blocked efforts by the US, France and Britain to apply UN pressure to North Korea. Mr Losyukov however said yesterday that Moscow might back UN sanctions against Pyongyang if evidence emerged that it possessed nuclear weapons.
"We will oppose this approach as long as our North Korean colleagues maintain common sense."
Kim Jong-Il, who says the US may attack North Korea after dealing with Iraq, toured a North Korean air base yesterday and declared his forces "fully prepared to courageously beat back the enemy", North Korea's official KCNA news agency reported.
