Lavrov: US Anti-JCPOA Stance Makes N. Korea Wary

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the US threat to withdraw from the Iran 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, is hampering efforts to end the nuclear crisis with North Korea.

Lavrov said at a summit in Vienna, Austria, on Friday that in his talks with Pyongyang, he found North Korea willing to negotiate a de-escalation of the crisis with the United States, but it has doubts about whether Washington will abide by any deal in light of what happened with Iran, RFE/RL reported.

The question is “how to convince North Korea that a deal won’t be rejected in a year or two by a new American administration,” Lavrov said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

“North Korea needs security guarantees, especially when Washington is about to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal,” he said.

With both sides escalating the conflict this year through a series of missile and nuclear tests by both North Korea and a joint military drill of the US and South Korea, Lavrov said, “Now, of course, it will be more difficult to create conditions for the resumption of dialogue.”