Russian, U.S. diplomats meet over N. Korea

MOSCOW, May 13 (UPI) -- Russia and the United States agree pressuring North Korea to jettison its nuclear program is not the route to take, a Russian diplomat said Wednesday.

RIA Novosti reported Russian Ambassador-at-large Grigory Logvinov and Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy, met in Moscow to discuss Pyongyang's recent withdrawal from talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear program.

"We share the same approach -- to search for diplomatic solutions, without applying any pressure, and this approach enjoys support from both the Republicans and the Democrats in the United States," Logvinov said.

"What's important is that everybody is willing to continue the talks. We need to preserve what has been gained since 2005."

The Russian news service said during their two-hour meeting, the two diplomats discussed, among other things, how to resume the so-called six-party talks involving North and South Korea, Russia, Japan, China and the United States.

As a part of a 2007 deal, North Korea began disabling a nuclear reactor and other facilities at Yongbyon in exchange for economic aid and political concessions. But the six-party talks collapsed in December over a U.S. demand that nuclear inspectors be allowed to take site samples out of North Korea for further analysis.