SCOW, March 30 (Reuters) – Moscow urged restraint in the
Korean peninsular on Saturday, after North Korea said it was
entering a “state of war” with South Korea in a further
escalation of its bellicose rhetoric against Seoul and its main
ally, the United States.
“We hope that all parties will exercise maximum
responsibility and restraint and no-one will cross the point of
no return,” senior Russian Foreign Ministry official Grigory
Logvinov told Interfax news agency.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday put missile units
on standby to attack U.S. military bases in the South and the
Pacific, after two nuclear-capable U.S. stealth bombers flew
over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.
Russia warned on Friday that the heightened military
activity was slipping into a “vicious cycle” that could get out
of control.
Tension has been high since North Korea conducted a third
nuclear weapons test in February in breach of U.N. sanctions and
despite warnings from China for it not to do so.
(Reporting by Maya Dyakina; Editing by Jon Boyle)
