China and Russia on Friday warned North Korea against furthering its nuclear ambitions, calling on Pyongyang to resume six-party talks over its nuclear weapons program and heed a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution banning its ballistic missile tests.

Speaking to reporters at a joint press briefing in Moscow, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov increased pressure on Pyongyang a day after the North Korean military defied the UN by firing two ballistic missiles into the sea.

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Using unusually strong language to address his country's traditional ally, Wang called for a complete stop to the development of nuclear weapons in North Korea, and said UN member countries must implement the UNSC resolution against Kim Jong Un's government point-by-point.  

"Reasonable Conclusions"

"We should block further development of nuclear weapons in the DPRK," said Wang. "At the same time, we will not spare efforts to return to the six-way talks."

Top Russian diplomat Lavrov concurred, and urged the North Korean government to bow to the demands of the UNSC.

"We expect North Korea to make reasonable conclusions and listen to the demands of the United Nations Security Council and return, after all, to the negotiating table within the framework of the joint declaration of the six-participants made on September 19, 2005," said Lavrov, referring to previous negotiations between North Korea, China, Russia, the US, Japan and South Korea.

This developed as North Korean leader Kim ordered more nuclear tests to ensure improvements to his country's nuclear attack capability. 

There have been recent warnings from South Korea and the US that North Korea might stage a reprisal nuclear =launch because of the latest UN sanctions against the North.

"Dear comrade Kim Jong Un said work must be strengthened to improve nuclear attack capability and issued combat tasks to continue nuclear explosion tests to assess the power of newly developed nuclear warheads and tests to improve nuclear attack capability," North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency reported.

Changing Times

Russia was a close ally to North Korea during the Soviet days, but Lavrov made it clear that times have changed.

"We believe that the world community's firm reaction will be interpreted by Pyongyang as a signal that there should be no such escapades in the future," Lavrov said. "It should be clear in Pyongyang that no one is going to exonerate the DPRK for such escapades," he added, referring to North Korea's recent missile launches.

The press briefing in Moscow occasioned reiterations of Chinese and Russian opposition to US plans to station state-of-the-art missile defense systems in South Korea.

"We stand firmly against the deployment of the THAAD to South Korea under the pretext of the nuclear problem of the Korean Peninsula," Wang said. "We believe this to be directly damaging to Russian and Chinese strategic security."

Tensions have risen sharply in the Korean Peninsula after Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test in January and then launched a space rocket last month. 

Experts at John Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies claim North Korea has between 10 and 16 nuclear weapons and can -- with sufficient support -- produce as many as 100 such weapons within four years.

TagsChina-Russia relations, China-North Korea relations, North Korea nuclear test, foreign minister Wang Yi, Sergei Lavrov, UN, North Korea Kim Jong-un