MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. The situation evolved on the Korean Peninsula may enter the confrontation phase in 2023, General Director of the Russian International Affairs Council Andrey Kortunov told TASS.

"I am afraid, yes," the expert said, answering a question whether the direct confrontation is possible. "The situation on the Korean Peninsula will depend on the general geopolitical situation. The more tense the situation will be, the more acute relations between China and the United States will be, the more active and assertive the behavior of North Korean leaders will be," Kortunov said.

"It is quite possible we will see new tests of ballistic missiles by North Korea in such case and even nuclear tests [in the next year] cannot be excluded," the expert said. "However, to all appearances, North Korean leaders will proceed from the fact that Russia and China will prevent the US and its allies from approving any new sanctions [against North Korea], using mechanisms in the UN Security Council," Kortunov noted.

The outgoing year demonstrated the trend of situation aggravation, the analyst said. "This was not aggravation to bring to the brink of war but we see nevertheless there were very serious aggravation in relations between Koreas, there were missile tests; on the other side, we see South Korea drifted towards the United States and joint exercises took place," Kortunov said.

"This is more likely to have the adverse effect for the stability on the Korean Peninsula, since it leads to strengthening of trends of rigid bipolarity," the expert added. Certain stabilization in relations between Beijing and Washington and establishment of the coordination system in the Asia-Pacific Region can break such trend, Kortunov said.