Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said during an interview with U.S. talk show host Larry King that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is "very acute and disturbing."
When King asked Putin how he assessed the situation on the Korean Peninsula during a satellite interview aired on CNN on Wednesday, Putin said that the situation was disturbing because everything is happening right on Russia's borders.
"But we hope that prudence will prevail, emotions will be moved to the back burner, and dialogue will begin. It is impossible to come to an agreement without dialogue," Putin said.
Last week, North Korea opened artillery fire on the South's Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea, killing two South Korean marines and two civilians. Sixteen others were injured, along with three civilians. The South retaliated and warned of further strikes. The North later accused South Korea of attacking first.
"We are working with our partners, including the United States, on settling issues with North Korea's nuclear programs and on settling the situation between the two Koreas, and the various stages of this work have given various results, but there are also some quite impressive and positive results," Putin said.
When asked if Russia supported China's offer to continue holding six-party talks (North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, United States), Putin said that was a question for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and not for him.
"The [Russian] president manages the country's foreign policies and that question needs to be addressed to him first of all, but I believe on the whole that Russia is interested in the continuation of dialogue," Putin responded.
When asked if China should be doing more to settle the situation because it has much more influence on North Korea, Putin said this was the U.S. State Department's position, though he added that "everyone should do everything possible so that the situation could enter into a normal channel."
"The People's Republic of China has levers of influence, first of all in the economic sense, but it's more important to remember that when relating to the interests of the Korean people, this has to be done with respect, both to the North and South Koreans," Putin said.
"You have to have patience and choose the correct tone in dialogue and develop a unified position of all six states, which are all taking part in this quite complex agreement process. A unity of approaches is very important for overall success."
MOSCOW, December 2 (RIA Novosti)
