Putin urges Trump to avoid hysteria on North Korea

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States and its allies against raising “military hysteria” over the growing crisis in North Korea on Tuesday, and he urged President Trump to pursue diplomacy with them or risk a “global catastrophe.”

Speaking to reporters Tuesday morning, Putin predicted that any military action to stop North Korea’s continued nuclear aggression would result in a “massive” loss of human life.

{mosads}”In this situation, pressing on military hysteria will not bring anything. This may end up in a global catastrophe and huge amount of human life lost,” the Russian leader said Tuesday.

Putin added that efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula would be a futile effort, as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has learned the lessons of previous dictators.

“[Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein] abandoned weapons of mass destruction — everyone remembers how he ended up,” Putin added. “North Korea remembers this too.”

North Korea over the weekend reported its sixth nuclear test, an apparently successful detonation of a hydrogen bomb miles underground that could in the future be attached to an intercontinental ballistic missile.

North Korea “would rather eat grass” than abandon these nuclear tests “as long as they do not feel safe,” Putin told reporters.