Anchor: UN Security Council member states, as well as South Korea, are scheduled to hold a meeting in New York on Wednesday to discuss North Korea's recent escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Ahead of that, Washington and Moscow's top diplomats held bilateral talks and revealed they still have some differences over how to deal with Pyongyang. 
Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: 

[Sound bite: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo] 
"I raised the importance of sanctions enforcement with Foreign Minister Lavrov today.... " 

Escalating tensions between Washington and Pyongyang were one of the key topics of the meeting between the top diplomats of the U.S. and Russia. 

During a joint news conference after the bilateral talks in Washington Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged North Korea to refrain from nuclear and long-range missile tests.

[Sound bite: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo] 
"...with respect to North Korea’s behavior, I think President Trump’s been unambiguous about our expectation. Chairman Kim personally made the commitment to denuclearize; said there wouldn’t be long-range missile tests, nuclear tests. All of those are commitments that we are very hopeful that the North Koreans will continue to abide by."   

[Sound bite: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (Russian via interpreter)]
"...sanctions are an instrument that is being used by the UN Security Council. However, that resolution does not deal only with sanctions. They also include the need to engage more actively in political process, and that has often been lost."

In contrast, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov placed his focus on the U.S. side of the deal. 

[Sound bite: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (Russian via interpreter)]
"We’re positive that this dialogue can yield result only in the case when it follows the idea of reciprocal steps. You cannot demand North Korea to do everything and right now and only then go back to ensuring its security and lifting the sanctions and the rest of all of it."

With Lavrov highlighting the economic and humanitarian needs of North Korea, Pompeo said his side was working to develop ways to communicate with the North. 

Claiming the end of nuclear negotiations with the U.S., North Korea on Sunday said it carried out an important experiment at its key rocket launch facility and that its strategic status had been upgraded.

At the request of the U.S., the UN Security Council will hold a meeting Wednesday to discuss the North Korea situation. 

The White House said U.S. President Donald Trump urged Moscow to support denuclearization efforts during a courtesy visit by the top Russian diplomat.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.

[Photo : YONHAP News]