Warning to North Korea

last updated 8 January 2015

Moscow

Russia and China have given an unusually public warning to North Korea to refrain from building nuclear weapons. In a joint statement made after their Moscow summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao said that North Korea should maintain “a nuclear-free status” and that “the use of force to resolve problems” on the Korean peninsula was “unacceptable.” In the past, the two countries have quietly—and separately—urged North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, but this week was the first time the two spoke with one voice. North Korea recently threatened to unleash “unspeakable disaster” on South Korea in the event of a U.S. strike on its nuclear plants.