No proof of DPRK's so-claimed completion of uranium enrichment: Russian FM

MOSCOW, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Russia has no proof that the uranium enrichment experiment that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is conducting has entered its final phase, said spokesman for the foreign ministry here on Thursday.

"The Russian Foreign Ministry has no information about the real state of affairs and the truthfulness of Pyongyang's declarations," the Inter fax news agency quoted Andrei Nesterenko as saying.

In a letter sent to the U.N. on Sept. 3, the DPRK said the "experimental uranium enrichment has successfully been conducted to enter into completion phase."

"We have taken notice of the DPRK' s statement. The DPRK informed us about such plans before," said Nesterenko.

The spokesman reiterated that "the Russian attitude to the DPRK' s experiments is invariable: They do not meet the declared intention of Pyongyang to denuclearize Korea and are fraught with an escalation of tensions."

"We understand the DPRK' s security concerns but think that the solution must be political and diplomatic, rather than trigger a regional arms race, particularly a nuclear one," he said.

Russia along with other nations concerned are taking active diplomatic efforts to resume the six-party talks on the settlement of the Korean nuclear issue.

"These negotiations remain the optimum format for settling the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula," he said.

The six-party talks have been stalled since the last round in Beijing last December.

Initiated in 2003, the talks involve China, the DPRK, the United States, South Korea, Russia and Japan.