MOSCOW - Russia and China expressed serious concern Wednesday about the tension on the Korean peninsula and urged North Korea to return to six-nation talks on its nuclear program.
Only hours earlier, North Korea increased its rhetoric in defense of the program, warning the United States and its allies of a "thousand-fold" military retaliation if provoked.
China and Russia have used their status as veto-wielding permanent UN Security Council members to soften Western-backed sanctions against North Korea in the past, but approved new punitive measures this month after expressing unusually strong concern over North Korea's recent nuclear test and missile launches.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russia's Dmitry Medvedev tried to nudge North Korea back in line while avoiding language in their joint statement Wednesday that would anger the north further.
Japanese and South Korean news reports said North Korea is preparing an additional site for test-firing a long-range missile that experts say could be capable of striking the United States.
North Korea claims its nuclear bombs are a deterrent against the United States and accuses Washington of plotting with Seoul to topple its secretive regime -- led by the unpredictable dictator Kim Jong Il who is reportedly preparing to hand over power to his 26-year-old youngest son.
President Barack Obama, who met with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Washington on Tuesday, announced a global "strategic alliance" to persuade North Korea to dismantle all its nuclear weapons.
Obama declared North Korea a "grave threat" to the world and pledged that recent UN sanctions on the communist regime will be aggressively enforced.
A joint statement issued after the Russian and Chinese leaders' talks at the Kremlin, said they "expressed serious concern in connection with the situation on the Korean peninsula," and underscored the need for a peaceful resolution of the tension.
Hu and Medvedev called for the "swiftest renewal" of the talks involving their countries as well as North and South Korea, Japan and the United States, which broke down months ago.
The statement included no new initiatives on the mounting problem and used language that appeared aimed at avoiding raise North Korea's ire further.
A Russian deputy defense minister reportedly said earlier that Russia would shoot down any North Korean missile headed its way but might not be able to detect missiles aimed in other directions.
Hu's meetings with Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin followed two days of international summits in Russia that underscored both the common goals and the differing interests of the giant neighbors.
Eager to counter the influence of the West, especially the United States, China and Russia have forged close political and economic ties after decades of tension during Soviet era, though China's trade with the United states far exceeds its trade with Russia.
