U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he is confident the two sides will work together to end the North Korean nuclear threat.

Trump was speaking at a joint press conference with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, following their first summit. The news conference, which was broadcast live, was dominated by the issue of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

This AP photo shows U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin shaking hands at their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018. (Yonhap)

"We also discussed one of the most critical challenges facing humanity: nuclear proliferation," Trump said. "I provided an update on my meeting last month with Chairman Kim on the denuclearization of North Korea. And after today, I am very sure that President Putin and Russia want very much to end that problem, going to work with us. And I appreciate that commitment."

Trump and Kim's meeting in Singapore yielded a joint statement committing the North to the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from the U.S.

Russia is a member of the long-stalled six-party talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program. As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, it has also backed resolutions sanctioning the North for its nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

Together with China, Russia has traditionally favored dialogue, as opposed to sanctions, as a means to solve the North Korean threat.

"We are glad that the Korean Peninsula issue is starting to resolve," Putin said through an interpreter. "To a great extent, it was possible thanks to the personal engagement of President Trump, who opted for dialogue instead of confrontation." (yonhap)

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