"Pyongyang's latest decision to send the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors out of the country and to resume uncontrolled activity within the nuclear energy industry is regretful," Ivanov said.

The DPRK last Friday ordered IAEA inspectors to leave the country, a further move in response to the US decision to suspend shipments of heavy oil to the energy-starved country.

Russia thinks it is important to preserve and strictly comply with the DPRK-US 1994 agreement and supports all other international accords aimed at the nuclear free status of the Korean Peninsula, Ivanov stressed. This goal can only be achieved through a constructive dialogue between all interested parties, he noted.

Under the 1994 agreement, the DPRK agreed to suspend its nuclear program in return for two light water reactors and 500,000 tons of heavy oil provided annually by the US government.

Ivanov warned that "aggressive rhetoric and threats, moreover attempts to isolate the DPRK, can only escalate tension, which does not correspond to the interests of regional and international stability."

Russia is consulting actively with the DPRK, China, Japan, the United States, the Republic of Korea and all other partners and interested parties in order to promote a resumption of dialogue in the interests of the political and diplomatic settlement on the Korean Peninsula, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2002)