Putin Asserts That North Korea’s Provocation Should Be Carefully Considered

Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said that in the event that sanctions on North Korea were ramped up, his country would be relatively unaffected as Russia “only supply oil products there (and) the volumes are negligible, close to zero”.

“The situation is very grave”.

“It is far bigger than past (North Korean) nuclear tests”, said Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera.

“A special measure is urgently needed to stop their recklessness”. Two launchers had already been deployed.

The North says it needs nuclear weapons to defend itself, and analysts say it is seeking to strengthen its hand for any future negotiations with Washington.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed that reducing regional tension and “quickly solving” the security challenges posed by North Korea’s nuclear and missile program were critical.

Meanwhile, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned the United States and North Korea that “confrontational rhetoric may lead to unintended consequences” and stressed the nuclear crisis must be solved diplomatically.

He said that would produce truer parity between the two countries because, by his account, 155 of the 455 Russian diplomatic personnel in the United States work in connection with the United Nations.

Abe next meets with Putin this coming November, in conjunction with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ summit.

The U.S. began installing the THAAD system under South Korea’s previous government.

“It is impossible to intimidate them”, said the Russian leader.

The president tweeted the remark a day after he spoke with South Korean President Moon Jae-in about North Korea’s sixth nuclear explosion, which Pyongyang claimed was the detonation of a hydrogen bomb, at its Punggye-ri test site.

Russian Federation says it is strictly implementing United Nations sanctions on North Korea, but in its public pronouncements it has taken a more doveish approach than most Western countries.

Speaking after USA officials ordered Russia to vacate diplomatic premises in several American cities, Putin said he would order the Russian foreign ministry to take legal action over alleged violations of Russia’s property rights.

Russian Federation has also criticized the move. They’ll be weak and they’ll be more susceptible to North Korea exploiting that power.

His efforts have been hampered by bellicose rhetoric on all sides of the North Korean issue, and worsening relations between Seoul and Washington.

Seoul has routinely dismissed the option of basing USA nuclear weapons on South Korean soil for the first time since the 1990s, but the country’s defence minister, Song Young-moo, said “all available military options” were being considered to address the growing threat from North Korean missiles.

They also signed a bilateral tax treaty to eliminate double taxation and prevent tax evasion, with a view to promoting further mutual investments and economic exchanges, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov notified his USA counterpart Rex Tillerson about that development during a phone conversation on Tuesday.

“The minister drew attention of the U.S. top diplomat to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement at a news conference after the BRICS summit in China’s Xiamen that the Russian side plans to use court procedures over Washington’s illegal actions”. It has now been updated.