North Korea nuclear crisis: Putin warns of planetary catastrophe

07/10/2017

As Kim Jong-un reportedly prepares further missile launch, Russian president says further sanctions would be ‘useless’

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
and Tom Phillips in Beijing

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has warned that the escalating North Korean crisis could cause a “planetary catastrophe” and huge loss of life, and described US proposals for further sanctions on Pyongyang as “useless”.

“Ramping up military hysteria in such conditions is senseless; it’s a dead end,” he told reporters in China. “It could lead to a global, planetary catastrophe and a huge loss of human life. There is no other way to solve the North Korean nuclear issue, save that of peaceful dialogue.”