This 2019 April file photo shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un posing for a photo during their meeting in Vladivostok, Russia. Reuters-Yonhap

Russia on Friday said that the United States was testing the patience of Moscow's tacit ally North Korea after Pyongyang fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that landed near Japan.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergei Ryabkov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency that while Moscow prefers a diplomatic approach towards the Korean peninsula, "it's been particularly evident recently that the United States and its allies in the region, prefer a different path."

"It's as if Pyongyang's patience is being tested," he was cited as saying. (AFP)