South Korea asks Russia to help tame the North as Putin declares sanctions ‘a dead end’

‘Now, more than ever, everyone needs to be coldblooded and avoid steps leading to an escalation’

SOUTH KOREA’S president has asked Vladimir Putin to help “tame” North Korea, but the two leaders are divided over the need for sanctions on the rogue regime.

Speaking at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum, Moon Jae-in, the South’s leader, said he and Mr Putin “share a view that North Korea has gone the wrong way with its nuclear and missile programme”. He asked for assistance to “tame” the North, Yonhap news agency reported. Before the talks, Mr Moon had warned that the situation could become “uncontrollable” if North Korea, which held its largest nuclear bomb test on Sunday, did not stop its “provocations”. More weapons tests are widely expected this weekend.

While Mr Moon has sought Russian support for stronger sanctions, Mr Putin continued to insist that this is a dead end. He called Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme a “crude violation of UN security council resolutions” but said it was “impossible to resolve the problem of the Korean peninsula only by sanctions and pressure”.

“It’s not worth giving in to emotions and driving North Korea into a corner,” Mr Putin said. “Now, more than ever, everyone needs to be cold-blooded and avoid steps leading to an escalation of tensions.”

During their meeting, the South Korean leader said it was inevitable Pyongyang’s oil supply would be cut and asked his Russian counterpart to cooperate, Mr Moon’s press secretary said.

Mr Putin, according to his aides, responded that shutting off the pipeline would damage hospitals. Although China provides the bulk of North Korea’s oil, Russia exports 40,000 tons of oil per quarter to the isolated state, Mr Putin said on Tuesday. But he called this “nothing” compared to its overall output and denied that North Korean workers in Russia, who provide cash to the regime, were a problem.

He added that North Koreans “will eat grass but they won’t give up the [nuclear] programme if they don’t feel safe”. Mr Putin and Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, have instead pushed a “freeze for freeze” plan that would see the US and South Korea stop large military exercises in exchange for North Korea ceasing weapons tests.

The United States asked the UN Security Council yesterday to place an oil embargo on North Korea and freeze the assets of Kim Jong-un, in response to the nuclear test.

A Us-drafted resolution seen by AFP also called for a ban on textile exports and an end to payments made to North Korean labourers abroad.