MOSCOW, September 4. /TASS/. Russian and South Korean Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Moon Jae-in, have resolutely condemned Pyongyang’s actions that "blatantly violate the United Nations Security Council resolutions, undermine the global non-proliferation regime and pose a serious threat to peace and security in the region," the Kremlin press service said on Monday after their telephone conversation.
"The Russian side once again stressed that this extremely complicated situation can be settled only through the resumption of talks and wide use of political and diplomatic means," the Kremlin said.
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The leaders agreed to continue to exchange views on that problem at their meeting on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok on September 6, the Kremlin added.
Moscow insists on resolving the North Korean nuclear issue only by political and diplomatic means, for regional powers should show wisdom, Peskov went on.
He pointed to the "meaningful statements" made by Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya. "He said that in the current situation, we call on everybody to show restraint as resolving the North Korea issue is only possible through political and diplomatic means," the Kremlin spokesman said. According to Peskov, "this remains the basis for Russia’s stance."
He said that he had heard strong statements made by the United States’ UN Ambassador Nikki Haley about ways to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue. "In this connection, it is easy for non-regional countries to speak about a war, but the countries who are in the same region with North Korean and the Korean Peninsula have to be wiser and adopt balanced approaches to this serious issue, which causes us all concern," Peskov said.
The Russian presidential spokesman also said that the situation surrounding North Korea was "really difficult." However, when asked if the Kremlin considered a US nuclear strike on North Korea possible, he said that he thought the question to be inappropriate.