Japan, Russia hash over Korean Peninsula’s denuclearization

TOKYO - 10 November 2017: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to strictly implement UN sanctions on North Korea, The Japan Times newspaper reported Friday.

Abe told reporters about the agreement just after meeting with Putin in the Vietnamese coastal city of Danang. The meeting also focused on joint economic programs the two countries plan to launch on the disputed Russian-held islands off Hokkaido.

The meeting, their 20th, took place on the sidelines of a regional summit and just days after the prime minister and US President Donald Trump agreed to maximize pressure on North Korea until it changes its nuclear and missile policies.

When Abe held his formal meeting with Trump in Tokyo on Monday, the two leaders agreed that more cooperation from China and Russia is needed to rein in North Korea.

North Korea has halted its string of provocative arms tests for nearly two months now, but it has not shown any sign of relenting on its quest to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile.

Still, China and Russia, two of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council, have diplomatic and economic ties with North Korea, and they are traditionally reluctant to push Pyongyang into a corner.