Russia is strongly opposed to the idea of such a strike designed to destroy its nuclear and missile programme – an idea the US President has floated – favouring a mixture of diplomacy and economic incentives instead.
Mr Putin told an energy forum in Moscow today that he had serious doubts about the military efficacy of such a move, as well as other political and moral concerns.
He said: “Can a global strike against North Korea be launched to disarm it? Yes. Will it achieve its aim? We don’t know. Who knows what they have there and where. Nobody knows with 100 per cent certainty as it’s a closed country.
“Let us speak to the point, after all – can someone launch a global disarming strike? Indeed. Will it reach its targets? It’s unclear because no one knows for sure what is where.”
The Russian president said Russia had more reason than most to be concerned by Pyongyang’s missile programme, saying that North Korea’s nuclear testing range was located just 200 kilometres (124.27 miles) from the Russian border.
He said: “We have a shared border and the Korean nuclear testing range lies 200km away from the Russian border.”
The Russian leader also reiterated his call for diplomacy to be allowed to run its course and for all sides to dial down the bellicose rhetoric. He also said he thought Trump was listening to Russia’s views on the crisis.
He said: “All sides must ease rhetoric and find ways for face-to-face dialogue between the United States and North Korea, as well as between North Korea and countries in the region.
“Only this would help find balanced and reasonable decisions. At any rate, it is not my cup of tea to define and assess policies of the United States president.”
More sanctions were the road to nowhere, Mr Putin told the same forum, saying around 40,000 North Korean citizens were currently working in Russia.
Such workers are known to regularly send back part of their wages to the North Korean authorities.
In recent weeks North Korea has launched two missiles over Japan and conducted its sixth nuclear test, and may be fast advancing toward its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the US mainland.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last weekend that Washington was directly communicating with Pyongyang on its nuclear and missile programs but that Pyongyang had shown no interest in dialogue. Trump later dismissed any prospect of talks with North Korea as a waste of time.
Mr Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed in a telephone conversation on Wednesday that pressure should be maintained on North Korea, a senior Japanese government official told reporters.