Russia's Putin warns against arms race over N.Korea

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for calm over North Korea in an interview published on Sunday and warned of the danger of an arms race developing in Asia after Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket.

Putin, in an interview with Japanese media before a visit to Tokyo, called for a return to six-country talks on North Korea, comprising China, the two Koreas, Japan, Russia and the United States.

"It would be absolutely wrong if we increased the emotional temperature around what is happening today and used this to destabilise the region or to start some sort of arms race. I think this would be a big mistake," Putin said, according to a transcript of the interview supplied by the Russian government.

"We need to take account of the positive things, of what has been achieved as part of the negotiating process in the six-party format," he said in the interview with the Nikkei business daily, Kyodo news agency and public broadcaster NHK.

"Everyone needs to return to them (the six-country talks) without emotion and without anything else that could hinder the resumption of the process," said Putin, who rarely comments on North Korea.

The United Nations Security Council last month condemned North Korea's launch of what the United States and Japan said was a long-range missile but North Korea insisted was a rocket carrying a peaceful satellite.

The Security Council called for tougher enforcement of U.N. financial sanctions and a limited trade embargo against Pyongyang, placing three large North Korean firms on a U.N. blacklist for aiding the country's nuclear and missile programs.

North Korea retaliated by announcing it would boycott the six-party talks and promising to restart a nuclear plant that makes arms-grade plutonium.

Pyongyang, which tested a nuclear device in 2006, also threatened a fresh nuclear test unless the U.N. Security Council apologised for chastising North Korea.