Russia blames South Korea for tension, calls for diplomacy

(Reuters) - Russia's Foreign Ministry accused South Korea on Monday of boosting tension in its relations with the Communist North and called for diplomacy in restoring calm and security on the Korean peninsula.

South Korea said the North was getting ready to blow up roads that cross the heavily militarized border in an escalating exchange of verbal barbs after the North accused its rival of sending drones over its capital Pyongyang.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

Russia has drawn closer to North Korea in diplomatic and military ties since its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have exchanged visits.

In the 2000s, Russia supported U.N. sanctions against North Korea on the grounds that its nuclear tests threatened to hurt efforts to halt nuclear proliferation. In March, Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution on renewing a panel of experts examining North Korea’s violations of Security Council sanctions.

KEY QUOTES

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on ministry website:

"Such acts are a blatant encroachment on (North Korea's) sovereignty and internal affairs with the aim of destroying its legal state and political framework and denying it the right to its own development".

"Ensuring long-term peace and stability in the sub-region is possible only through political and diplomatic means on the basis of indivisible security. There is no alternative way unless aggression is not the real aim of South Korea and its 'bigger' ally, the United States."

CONTEXT

Interfax news agency said Putin on Monday submitted to the State Duma lower house of parliament a text on ratifying a treaty on strategic partnership with North Korea. It said the text provided for each side to provide military assistance in the event of an armed attack on the other.

Ukrainian forensic experts say they have found traces of North Korean weaponry used in attacks on Ukrainian cities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address on Monday, said he had been briefed about "the actual involvement of North Korea in the war."

(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar; Editing by Matthew Lewis)