US, North Korea Dialogue Essential for Resolving Peninsula Dispute - Moscow

© REUTERS / Kim Hong-JiA South Korean soldier walks past a TV broadcast of a news report on North Korea firing what appeared to be several land-to-ship missiles off its east coast, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, June 8, 2017.
A South Korean soldier walks past a TV broadcast of a news report on North Korea firing what appeared to be several land-to-ship missiles off its east coast, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, June 8, 2017. - Sputnik International
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A dialogue between the United States and North Korea is the primary dispute settlement mechanism on the Korean Peninsula, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On June 2, the UN Security Council expanded targeted sanctions against North Korean companies and individuals after its most recent missile test in May

"We stand for a comprehensive solution of all the problems on the Korean Peninsula exclusively by peaceful means, through dialogue without preconditions of all the parties involved, and above all the main antagonists: the United States and North Korea," Morgulov said.

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In June, 22-year-old US national Otto Warmbier was returned to the US, in a coma, after spending 17 months in captivity in North Korea. 

He had been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for stealing a political poster from the Yanggakdo International Hotel where he was staying during a tourist jaunt to Pyongyang in January 2009.

Suffering from brain injuries, Warmbier died on Monday. US President Donald Trump called his death a "total disgrace," and appeared to criticize the Obama administration for failing to return him to the US sooner.

Since Warmbier's death, the US has sent B1 bombers to fly over the Korean peninsula in a show of military strength, having already sent the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier to the region in April.

However, earlier this month South Korea delayed deployment of the US THAAD missile system, after new President Moon Jai-in ordered an environmental impact assessment in the area where four additional Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) launchers were to be deployed. 

Two missile launchers were already deployed to the town of Seongju in April, despite popular protests.  

On Thursday, North Korea hit back at the US and South Korea, calling the US President a "psychopath."

"South Korea must realize that following psychopath Trump…will only lead to disaster," said an editorial in Pyongyang's Rodong Sinmun paper.

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