Tensions between North Korea and South Korea appear to be ratcheting up again just as a senior Russian official is warning of an "apocalyptic scenario" developing on the Korean Peninsula.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said Monday that the world could not ignore the crisis surrounding North Korea and , but that he hoped a peaceful solution could be found.

"A scenario of the apocalyptic development of the situation on the Korean Peninsula exists, and we cannot turn our blind eye to it," Morgulov said at the opening of the eighth annual Asian Conference of the Valdai discussion club in Seoul, according to Russia's state-run news agency Tass.

"I hope that a common sense, pragmatism and an instinct of self-preservation would prevail among our partners to exclude such negative scenario," the Russian diplomat said.

The comments come as the international community watches for the next move from the secretive and unpredictable regime in North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Un. There have been repeated demands for the country to stop its suspected nuclear weapons development program, but Pyongyang has repeatedly appeared to have ignored these, carrying out a string of missile and nuclear tests.

President Donald Trump has warned North Korea that the country was prepared to go to war but Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the U.S. not to use military might against the Communist regime, insisting that a peaceful solution can be found.

as it shares a 17-kilometer (10-mile) land border with the country and does not want the U.S. to meddle in the region.