World leaders expressed alarm Friday at the bellicose language emanating from North Korea and the United States, but also some support for President Donald Trump, as they sought to allay their citizens' fears of a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula.

"I am convinced that a verbal escalation will not contribute to a resolution of the conflict," Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany told journalists in Berlin. "I also see no military resolution to the conflict."

Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said that Moscow was "very alarmed" by talk of pre-emptive military action by the United States. "Unfortunately, the rhetoric in Washington and Pyongyang is now starting to go over the top," Lavrov said. "We still hope and believe that common sense will prevail."

Among the United States' allies, Australia was perhaps the most decisive in denouncing North Korea's weapons program.

"We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States," Malcolm Turnbull said in a statement, adding that Australia and the United States were "joined at the hip."

European leaders, whose summer holidays had already been interrupted by political uncertainty, and who are usually occupied by the threat from a resurgent Russia, were focused on the Korean Peninsula.

'Wrong answer'

Merkel said diplomacy offered the only way out of the crisis. She did not single out Trump – with whom she has had a frosty relationship – for criticism, but she made clear that his language was not helpful.

"Germany will be intensively involved in any possible nonmilitary solutions, but I consider an escalation of words to be the wrong answer," she said.

Russia's Defense Ministry on Friday denied reports on state-controlled media that air defense units in the Russian Far East had been placed on high alert. Russia shares a short border with North Korea, near Vladivostok, a Pacific port city.

Speaking at a youth forum east of Moscow, Lavrov, the foreign minister, said Moscow was "very worried" by fiery declarations in Washington and Pyongyang.

"Talk of the need to carry out a pre-emptive strike at North Korea, Pyongyang's talk of the need to strike at Guam island at the US military base, this has been continual, and we are very worried by this," Lavrov said.

He said that Russia, which last weekend joined the United States and China in voting at the UN Security Council for severe new sanctions against Pyongyang, did not accept North Korea as a nuclear power. But he said it was up to the United States, as the more powerful country, to take the first step.

'Double freeze'

"I believe when it actually comes to a fight, the one that is stronger and smarter should take the first step away from the dangerous line," Lavrov said.

"Together with China, Russia offered a very reasonable plan providing for the 'double freeze.' Kim Jong Un freezes any nuclear tests, any ballistic missile launches, while the US and South Korea freeze large-scale military exercises, which are constantly used by North Korea as an excuse to conduct tests."

Russian experts worry that while the US is unlikely to launch an all-out military attack on North Korea, it could make a limited strike. This, warned Vladimir Batyuk, of the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, would shatter the united front that Russia, China and the United States displayed in the sanctions vote at the United Nations.

"If the Americans apply military force against the DPRK, they will clearly lose whatever political support Moscow and Beijing have provided so far for US policy toward North Korea," Batyuk told Kommersant, a Russian newspaper, using the initials for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the formal name of the North.

The leaders of France, the United States' oldest ally, and Britain, the United States' closest ally, did not offer fresh comments on the tensions, but Jeremy Corbyn, the far-left leader of the opposition Labour Party in Britain, said war would be catastrophic.

'Unthinkable'

"The idea that anyone can contemplate using nuclear weapons at any stage against anybody is unthinkable," Corbyn, who has advocated that Britain give up its nuclear weapons, told Sky News. "There is no such thing as an isolated nuclear attack. It will kill millions on both sides of the Korean border and, of course, in neighbouring countries."

Damian Green, Britain's first secretary of state, said during a visit to Scotland that "the sensible way for people to proceed is to work through the UN process."

He added, "That's what the British government has been supporting and will continue to support."

Several allies of the United States, while expressing dismay about the heated language, said Washington was correct to condemn North Korea's weapons program.

New Zealand's foreign minister, Gerry Brownlee, re-emphasized the need for a strong diplomatic response, saying any pre-emptive action would be a mistake.

"Committing to an aggressive response now – while encouraging all involved to avoid escalation – is not a position we want to take," Brownlee said, according to local reports.