VLADIVOSTOK:Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his South Korean counterpart on Thursday struggled to grind down Russian resistance to new sanctions on Pyongyang over its nuclear test as Vladimir Putin appeared to give little ground.The United States on Wednesday demanded that the United Nations slap an oil embargo on North Korea and a freeze on the foreign assets of its leader Kim Jong-Un in a dramatic bid to force an end to the perilous nuclear stand-off. "The international community must unite in applying the greatest possible pressure on North Korea," Abe said in a speech alongside Putin and South Korea 's Moon Jae-in at an economic forum in Vladivostok. "Given the new developments on the Korean peninsula, China agrees that the UN Security Council should respond further by taking necessary measures," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a press conference in Beijing. "We believe that sanctions and pressure are only half of the key to resolving the issue. The other half is dialogue and negotiation," Wang added.Putin meanwhile has repeatedly insisted that further economic pressure on Pyongyang will not work and insisted that the only route is diplomacy.

Source: Economic Times September 07, 2017 12:56 UTC