
UNITED NATIONS -- Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov called for a cooling of "hotheads" on the North Korean nuclear issue Friday and urged those involved to instead seek a peaceful solution, possibly through the mediation of "neutral European countries" or the U.N. secretary-general.
"It is unacceptable to simply sit back and to look at the nuclear and military gambles of North Korea, but it is also unacceptable to start the war on the peninsula," Lavrov told reporters at a news conference on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.