MOSCOW. Sept 15 (Interfax) - The international community will find ways to bring North Korea to reason, and there is no real danger of a nuclear war following Pyongyang's latest ballistic missile test, the First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council's Defense and Security Committee, Franz Klintsevich, said.
"It seems to me that they crossed the bounds of common sense in a competition of provocative actions when they tested a hydrogen bomb. They should not have done that, especially today. And now that emotions have started to run high, I think that serious consultations will be held at the international level, and the international community will in fact come up with options that will seriously impact [North] Korea," Klintsevich told Interfax on Friday.
"One cannot rein in North Korea through force and threats, especially by provocations. They [North Korea] will not agree to engage in any negotiation process," he said.
"Today it is necessary to use countries that actually have influence on North Korea, hold meetings at a very high level, discuss such matters and issue warnings. Apart from the tests, they continue to act as a global provocateur and an irritant, and when this process was just beginning, I said that North Korea is in such a position where, given the agreements, it is being provoked to do such things, creating serious difficulties all around. It does not pose any special danger, from the point of view of world powers. It can be contained at any moment, should such a danger emerge, but [North] Korea's conduct is also a serious provocation," Klintsevich said.
No one is seriously inclined to start a military conflict given the presence of nuclear weapons, the said, adding, however, that he was troubled by "the buildup by the Americans of weapons, hardware and personnel in the Asia-Pacific region in the vicinity of the borders of Russia and China, bearing in mind the announcement of the Prompt Global Strike program, the creation of the dual-purpose missile defense system, the escalation of tensions, and Russophobia."
"Certainly, what is standing behind all this is the defense industry's striving to increase funding and trigger an arms race," he said.
"But we are now reducing defense industry funding," Klintsevich said.
It was reported that North Korea had carried out another missile launch on Friday. According to the South Korean military, the North Korean missile was fired from an area near Pyongyang and flew over 3,700 kilometers, reaching a maximum altitude of 770 kilometers. According to the Japanese authorities, North Korea's ballistic missile flew over Japanese territory and fell into the Pacific Ocean 2,000 kilometers off Hokkaido's Cape Erimo.
Following Pyongyang's latest missile launch, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on all countries to take new measures against the North Korean regime.