When commenting on Tillerson’s statement in which he said that the US was ready to start talks with Pyongyang without preconditions, Peskov said that “on the whole, we can say that such constructive statements are better than confrontational rhetoric we have been hearing so far.”

“We can only welcome that, as it is in line with our proposals, as President Putin has said many times that confrontational rhetoric and steps which can further raise tensions on the Korean Peninsula are totally counterproductive,” the Kremlin spokesman added.

Peskov pointed out that “it was Putin who has been constantly calling on all the interested parties to make every possible effort to build dialogue.” “So such statements [made by Tillerson] are definitely welcome,” he added, TASS news agency reported.

At the same time, the presidential spokesman declined to comment on a visit to North Korea by the Russian Defense Ministry’s delegation and answer the question as to whether the visit meant that Moscow was seeking to step up its mediation efforts aimed at resolving the crisis.

“This question should be forwarded to the Defense Ministry, since it is its delegation,” Peskov said.

When asked if Washington was taking from Moscow the initiative to hold direct talks on the North Korea issue, the Kremlin spokesman said that “the major common goal is to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula, so in this case no one can seize anything from anyone, as it is most important to achieve that goal.”

The situation on the Korean Peninsula remains tense as Pyongyang continues to develop its nuclear and missile programs, while Seoul and Washington hold joint military drills.

On November 29, North Korea conducted a missile launch, the first since September 15. After the launch, Pyongyang announced that the Hwasong-15 missile was capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, while the entire US territory was within its range.

In early December, South Korea and the US carried out joint drills dubbed the Vigilant Ace 18. North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement strongly condemning the drills and noting that Washington’s campaign to demonize Pyongyang was leading to a war, while North Korea only “pursues a legitimate and fair aim by strengthening its means of nuclear deterrence.”.

The United States and South Korea conducted large-scale military drills last week, which the North said made the outbreak of war “an established fact”.

North Korea has fired two missiles over Japan as it pursues nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in defiance of UN sanctions and international condemnation. On Nov. 29, it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile which it said was its most advanced yet, capable of reaching the mainland United States, Reuters reported.

The exercises will be the sixth drill sharing information in tracking ballistic missiles among the three nations, the defense force said.

It did not say whether the controversial THAAD system would be involved. The installation of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea has angered China, which fears its powerful radar could look deep into China and threaten its own security.

Last month’s missile test prompted a US warning that North Korea’s leadership would be “utterly destroyed” if war were to break out. The Pentagon has mounted repeated shows of force after North Korean tests.

North Korea regularly threatens to destroy South Korea, Japan and the United States and says its weapons programmes are necessary to counter US aggression. The United States stations 28,500 troops in the South, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The comments came as White House National Security Advisor H.R McMaster warned of the “increasing” possibility of war with the impoverished but nuclear-armed North, AFP reported.

The five-day Vigilant Ace drill – involving some 230 aircraft including F-22 Raptor stealth jet fighters – begins Monday, five days after the North test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile believed capable of hitting the US mainland in a fresh challenge to President Donald Trump.

The North’s ruling party Rodong newspaper slammed the upcoming drill.

“It is an open, all-out provocation against the DPRK, which may lead to a nuclear war any moment,” it said in an editorial Sunday, using the North’s official name.

“The US and South Korean puppet warmongers would be well advised to bear in mind that their DPRK-targeted military drill will be as foolish as an act precipitating their self-destruction,” it said.

The commentary was published a day after Pyongyang’s foreign ministry accused the Trump administration of “begging for nuclear war” by staging what it called the reckless air drills.

McMaster said the possibility of war with the North was “increasing every day”.

“I think it’s increasing every day, which means that … we are in a race to be able to solve this problem,” he said at a forum on Saturday.

“There are ways to address this problem short of armed conflict, but it is a race because he’s getting closer and closer, and there’s not much time left,” he said.

The North says the Hwasong-15 missile fired Wednesday can be tipped with a “super-large heavy warhead” capable of striking the whole US mainland.

But analysts remain unconvinced that it has mastered the advanced technology to allow the rocket to survive re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere.

The months-long nuclear standoff between Kim and Trump has fuelled concerns of another conflict, after the 1950-53 Korean War left much of the peninsula in ruin.

But even some Trump advisers say US military options are limited when Pyongyang could launch an artillery barrage on the South Korean capital Seoul – only around 50 kilometers from the border and home to 10 million people.

North Korea has launched dozens of missiles under the leadership of Kim Jong Un as it accelerates a weapons program designed to give it the ability to target the United States with a powerful, nuclear-tipped missile.

In recent months, it has fired two missiles over Japan and conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test, stoking regional tension.

“Clearly, while diplomacy must be the main effort with North Korea, it has to be diplomacy backed by credible military power,” Admiral Harry Harris said in Japan at the beginning of a meeting with Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera.

US President Donald Trump visited China this month seeking its help to rein in North Korea and a senior Chinese diplomat will visit the North from Friday.

China has repeatedly pushed for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, but in recent months it has had only limited high-level exchanges with North Korea. The last time China’s special envoy for North Korea visited the country was in February last year.

Onodera, for his part, told Harris that he believed a recent joint military exercise involving Japanese forces and three US aircraft carriers had sent a “very strong message” to North Korea, Reuters reported.

Harris separately told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the joint exercise in the Sea of Japan during Trump’s visit to the region was “an example of how our militaries work together”. Two Indian warships also took part.

Abe told Harris Japan wanted to closely coordinate with the United States to boost deterrence and response capability as the security environment in the region becomes more challenging.

“Unless we can find a political solution,” it’s “inevitable” that Kim Jong Un’s regime will have intercontinental ballistic missiles within that time, Mikhail Ulyanov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s department for security affairs and disarmament, said in an interview in Moscow.

“We need to stop these programmes now, and sanctions will only work within four to five years.” Russia will “never recognize North Korea” as a nuclear state, which puts Moscow and Washington in “close” positions, Ulyanov said, Bloomberg reported.

Russia and China have urged a so-called “dual freeze” to ease the crisis, under which North Korea would suspend missile and nuclear tests “at least for a few months,” and the US and South Korea would halt joint manoeuvres to allow negotiations to restart, he said.

Washington has rejected the proposal, saying it equates North Korea’s illegal tests with the legitimate drills carried out by the US and South Korea.

The US wants to intensify pressure on North Korea through sanctions.

The crisis is likely to be on the agenda at possible talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin at this week’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam, according to the Kremlin.

In a softening of his earlier harsh rhetoric toward North Korea, Trump said on Tuesday during a visit to South Korea that the regime in Pyongyang should “come to the table” and make a deal on its nuclear programme.

While Trump said he sees “certain movement” on the issue, he declined to comment on holding direct talks with North Korea and said the US is ready – “if need be” – to use the full range of its military capabilities.

North Korea says its weapons program is a deterrent against any attempted US attack to try to topple the regime. It took the Russia-China proposal for a dual freeze into consideration without rejecting or accepting it, Ulyanov said in the interview conducted last week.

Tensions have ratcheted up since North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test on Sept 3, detonating what it said was a hydrogen bomb that could be fitted to an ICBM.

Its test-fired ballistic missiles that Kim said put the entire US at risk of a strike, and launched rockets twice that flew over Japan. Russian lawmakers who visited Pyongyang last month said they were told that North Korea is planning to test a missile that may be capable of reaching the US West Coast.

Ulyanov also criticized the Trump administration for putting at risk the nuclear agreement with Iran, saying the pact was virtually doomed to collapse if the US walks away from it. Trump last month disavowed the 2015 accord to curb Iran’s nuclear program that was negotiated between Tehran and the US, Russia, France, Germany, the UK and China.

Trump accused the Islamic Republic of multiple violations of the agreement, though he stopped short of abandoning it completely. All of the other participants, as well as International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, say Iran is complying with the pact.

“We don’t even want to discuss the likelihood of this deal’s collapse, because it would be a virtual catastrophe,” Ulyanov said.

Russia, along with China and the European powers, has rejected Trump’s demand to renegotiate the pact to curb Iran’s ballistic missile program. Iran currently has missiles with a range of around 3,000 km, which poses no threat to the US in the “foreseeable future,” Ulyanov said.

While Russia, which is on good terms with Iran, opposes Tehran’s missile development, it accepts the Islamic Republics’ right to do so under international law, according to Ulyanov.

“We are not pleased with such advanced weaponry being developed near our borders,” he said. “But we can’t say ‘don’t you dare’ to Iran.”

The Trump administration needs more time to assign State Department officials in charge of issues relating to non-proliferation and weapons of mass destruction, the Russian diplomat said.

“Maybe there will be positive changes early next year,” Ulyanov said.