SEOUL: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the nuclear nations should hold a peaceful dialogue with North Korea to achieve progress.
Putin, who met his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in on the sidelines of an economic summit in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, asserted that the North Korean nuclear crisis is impossible with sanctions and pressure alone.
The Russian President denounced Pyongyang’s sixth and largest nuclear bomb test on Sunday, saying Russia did not recognize North Korea’s nuclear status.
“Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear program is a crude violation of UN Security Council resolutions, undermines the non-proliferation regime and creates a threat to the security of northeastern Asia,” he said at a joint news conference.
“At the same time, it is clear that it is impossible to resolve the problem of the Korean peninsula only by sanctions and pressure,” he added.
South Korea’s Moon and Putin “shared the understanding that resolving the North Korean issue is top priority”.
Moon has asked the United Nations to consider tough new sanctions on North Korea after the latest nuclear test.