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MOSCOW, October 25 (RIA Novosti) - Discord at the six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program was one of the reasons that drove Pyongyang to conduct a nuclear test October 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.
"One of the reasons [of the nuclear test] was the failure of some parties at the talks to find a proper tone," Putin said during his annual televised question-and-answer session.
The six-nation talks involving North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Japan, China and the United States were launched in 2003 to persuade North Korea to give up its controversial nuclear program after Pyongyang withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The talks stalled last November over Pyongyang's demand that the U.S. lift sanctions imposed on it for its alleged involvement in counterfeiting and other illegal activities.
Russia advocates the resumption of talks, and has called on the United States and North Korea to take a more flexible approach to the standoff to end the deadlock.
North Korea hinted following the nuclear test that it might be willing to return to the negotiating table if Washington agrees to drop its sanctions.
President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the issue with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit in Moscow last weekend. Rice hailed Pyongyang's declared willingness to re-engage in the talks, but said Washington's financial sanctions on Pyongyang will remain in place.
North Korea announced it conducted its first nuclear test Oct. 9, and threatened to take "physical measures" after the UN Security Council unanimously voted October 14 to pass a resolution imposing sanctions on the reclusive Communist state.
The country did not specify what those measures might be, but the possibility of another nuclear test has been widely speculated, with U.S. media reporting suspicious activity at a suspected test site.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il told Chinese envoy Tang Jiaxuan during talks October 18-19 in Pyongyang that the country has no plans to conduct another nuclear test, but warned that "the country might take further action if pressure on North Korea continues."
"The situation should never lead to a deadlock, Vladimir Putin said. "None of the negotiating parties should be driven into a corner, with no way out except by escalating tensions."
Vladimir Putin said that diplomacy should be the only way for the international community to dissuade North Korea from further nuclear tests.
"The only way out of the current situation is the resumption of the six-nation talks," he said.
