Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has urged North Korea to return to the six-way nuclear talks and has warned of the danger of an arms race developing in Asia.

He said that it would be absolutely wrong to increase, what he called, the “emotional temperature” surrounding events that have occurred in the wake of the North’s April fifth rocket launch.

Putin made the comments in an interview with Japanese media published on Sunday ahead of his three-day visit to Tokyo.

Putin said it would be a big mistake to use the North’s launch as a reason to destabilize the region or to start an arms race.

He said the members of the nuclear talks need to return to the discussions without emotion and without anything else that could hinder efforts to reopen the negotiations.