Putin, Trump agree to exchange information

• Japan expands sanctions aimed at N Korea

• China says stalled projects with S Korea to resume, hails "springtime" in ties

The Kremlin yesterday said that President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump had agreed in a phone call to exchange information about North Korea and cooperate on possible initiatives to resolve a crisis around the Asian nation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call that Putin and Trump had also spoken about establishing contacts with North Korea.

The two men had also talked about improving dialogue between Russia and the United States, Peskov said.

The two heads of state discussed "the situation in several crisis zones, with a focus on solving the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula," the Kremlin said in a statement, without elaborating.

Washington this week said it was ready to talk to North Korea -- which has launched several intercontinental ballistic missiles in recent months -- "without preconditions."

Putin, in his annual press conference with hundreds of journalists in Moscow, welcomed the United States' "awareness of reality" in the crisis.

However, he called on all sides to "stop aggravating the situation" and said Moscow did not recognize North Korea's status as a nuclear power.

Meanwhile, Japan yesterday said it had added 19 more entities to its list of organisations and individuals targeted by asset-freeze sanctions on North Korea. The sanctions list now comprises 103 entities and 108 individuals in total, including seven Chinese entities, five Chinese individuals, one Singaporean entity and two Namibian entities, it said.

And South Korea's presidential office spokesman yesterday quoted Chinese Premier Li Keqiang as saying that China's stalled projects with South Korea will resume as ties between the two nations thaw.

The comments were made as South Korea's President Moon Jae-in visited China this week.