Russia warns US that fresh sanctions on North Korea would be dangerous

This photo taken on May 10, 2017, shows US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (R) speaking while posing for photos with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Treaty Room of the State Department in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

Russia has again warned the United States that any new punitive measures against North Korea over Pyongyang’s intensified missile activity would be “counterproductive and dangerous.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said late Wednesday in a phone call with his US counterpart Rex Tillerson that although Russia objected to North Korea’s firing of ballistic missiles over Japan earlier this week, it was of the opinion that piling up pressure on Pyongyang could backfire.

The remarks came after US President Donald Trump again escalated the rhetoric against North Korea and said on his Twitter page that "talking is not the answer" when it comes to dealing with the country.

However, a read-out of the phone call between Lavrov and Tillerson said the two sides urged dialogue on the escalated tension on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea and the United States came close to a full confrontation earlier this month when Trump threatened Pyongyang with “fire and fury” the world has never seen before.

North Korea swiftly responded by saying it had plans for firing mid- or intermediate-range missiles near the American island of Guam in the Pacific, where the US operates some key military facilities.

Washington then went ahead with a pre-planned joint drill with South Korea, provoking further warnings from Pyongyang that the action could spark a nuclear war.

Tensions over North Korea escalated last month when Pyongyang tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles. The move, which arms experts say show that North Korea has become capable of targeting the US mainland with its missiles, sparked huge concerns and led to tougher sanctions on North Korea, which is already under several rounds of UN Security Council embargoes since 2006 when it began its nuclear and missile tests.