Russia: N. Korea needs to resume talks

MOSCOW, July 8 (UPI) -- The Russian negotiator at the suspended six-nation denuclearization talks with North Korea says Pyongyang should return to the table.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Borodavkin delivered the message Wednesday during a meeting in Moscow with North Korean Ambassador to Russia Kim Yong-jae in which the two discussed bilateral issues, RIA Novosti reported.

"The Russian side stressed the need to immediately resume the six-party talks involving North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Japan, China and the United States to search for ways out of the current situation, which could deteriorate further, and to continue joint work on the resolution of the nuclear problem on the Korean peninsula," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

North Korea quit the six-nation talks in April in protest of what it called the United States' failure to deliver on its obligations under an aid-for-disarmament deal, the news agency said.