Putin advocates 'civilized' solution to Korean Peninsula impasse

North Korea should not be cornered or intimidated, he said at a meeting of Russian thinktank Valdai Discussion Club here, although Russia condemns Pyongyang's nuclear tests and adheres to UN sanctions, Xinhua reported.

Whether someone likes or dislikes North Korea, it is a sovereign country, Putin noted, according to an official transcript of his speech.

"We are firmly convinced that even the most complex knots -- be it the crisis in Syria or Libya, the Korean Peninsula or Ukraine -- must be disentangled rather than cut," he said.