Putin tells the West to ‘stop intimidating NORTH KOREA’: Astonishing comment just hours after Kim Jong-un launches ‘nuclear-capable’ missile
Putin spoke about latest North Korean missile test at Chinese economic summit
Said it is ‘unacceptable’ to intimidate regime as West called for fresh sanctions
Denied that test posed a threat to Russia despite missile landing near east coast
Putin joined China and South Korea in calling for fresh talks with Kim Jong-un
By CHRIS PLEASANCE
DailyMail.com
15 May 2017
Russian President Vladimir Putin has told world leaders to stop ‘intimidating’ North Korea following the dictatorship’s latest missile test.
Putin said attempts to bully Kim Jong-un’s regime were ‘unacceptable’, though he admitted the missile test was equally wrong.
America and South Korea led calls for fresh sanctions after Kim tested a newly developed Hwasong-12 ballistic missile on Sunday, which the dictator claimed was capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to the US.
Putin said: ‘We are categorically against the expansion of the club of nuclear powers. We consider (the missile test) counter-productive, harmful and dangerous’.
But, he added: ‘We must stop intimidating North Korea and find a peaceful solution to this problem.’
Speaking at a Chinese economic summit, Put also denied that the test had posed any threat to Russia, despite the weapon landing 60 miles off his nation’s east coast.
The Russian premier said peaceful talks must be held to resolve escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Putin joins China and new South Korean president Moon Jae-in in calling for talks with the North.
If discussions could be arranged, it would mark the first significant development in diplomacy with North Korea since the nation pulled out of six-party talks in 2009.
President Trump said earlier this month that he would be willing to participate in talks ‘under the right circumstances’, though his administration said that possibility was slim after the missile launch.
Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told ABC’s ‘This Week’ that ‘having a missile test is not the way to sit down with the president, because he’s absolutely not going to do it.’
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