- Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said US comments were a ‘bloodthirsty tirade’
- Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said North Korea would be ‘utterly destroyed’
- Comes after North Korea launched its most sophisticated ballistic missile yet
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said US comments about North Korea amounted to a ‘bloodthirsty tirade’.
Attacking remarks made by US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, he also said using force against Pyongyang would be a big mistake, the TASS news agency reported.
Haley earlier this week warned North Korea’s leadership it would be ‘utterly destroyed’ if war were to break out after Pyongyang test fired its most advanced missile, putting the US mainland within range, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
TASS cited Lavrov (pictured) as saying using force against North Korea would be ‘playing with fire’ and ‘a big mistake’ and that Moscow would do everything it could to avoid such a scenario
Haley (pictured at the UN speaking to South Korean ambassador Cho Tae-yul) earlier this week warned North Korea’s leadership it would be ‘utterly destroyed’ if war were to break out after Pyongyang test fired its most advanced missile
TASS cited Lavrov as saying using force against North Korea would be ‘playing with fire’ and ‘a big mistake’ and that Moscow would do everything it could to avoid such a scenario.
Also today, Russian lawmakers who visited Pyongyang said North Korea was not prepared to disarm.
They added that while it did not want nuclear war it is morally ready for it, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.
‘They said they won’t disarm, there cannot even be any talk of that,’ the agency quoted Svetlana Maximova as saying.
It comes after North Korea launched its most sophisticated ballistic missile yet, the Hwasong-15 (pictured)
Also today, Russian lawmakers who visited Pyongyang said North Korea was not prepared to disarm. Pictured: The Hwasong-15 before being launched on Tuesday
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un is seen as the newly developed intercontinental ballistic rocket Hwasong-15’s test was successfully launched
She was part of a delegation of Russian lawmakers just back from a visit to North Korea.
Another member of the delegation, Kazbek Taisayev, was quoted as saying by RIA of the North Koreans: ‘They do not want war, they want to live normally, but if there is a threat from the United States, then they are morally ready for that war.’