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NKOREA-CHINA-DIPLOMACY-LEAD
China urges US, N. Korea to address each other’s ‘concerns’
BEIJING, Dec 7, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping told North
Korea’s foreign minister Friday that he hoped Pyongyang and Washington will
address each other’s concerns so peace talks on the Korean peninsula
“continue to make positive progress”.
Xi met with Ri Yong Ho in Beijing as denuclearisation talks have made
little progress since a historic June summit between President Donald Trump
and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Xi “hopes that both North Korea and the United States can come together,
and will take care of each other’s legitimate concerns so that the process of
peace talks on the Korean peninsula continue to make positive progress,”
according to the official Xinhua news agency.
China is a key player in the diplomatic shuffle as it is North Korea’s main
diplomatic ally and trade partner.
“The international and regional situation as well as the situation on the
Korean peninsula remains in flux, so timely exchanges and the coordination of
positions between China and North Korea are still extremely essential,” said
Xi.
For his part, Ri said North Korea “remains committed to the
denuclearisation of the peninsula,” according to Xinhua.
Ri also met Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
“China and North Korea should continue to push the situation on the
peninsula to develop positively towards denuclearisation,” Wang said,
according to a foreign ministry statement.
“China hopes that the DPRK and the United States will maintain dialogue and
balance their concerns and achieve the goals set by the DPRK-US Joint
Statement,” it said, referring to a text agreed by Trump and Kim in June.
Talks on nuclear disarmament on the Korean peninsula between the US and
North Korea have stalled in recent months, with Washington pushing to
maintain sanctions until its “final, fully verified denuclearisation” and
Pyongyang condemning US demands as “gangster-like.”
In June, Trump and Kim opened up a face-to-face dialogue in Singapore after
months of trading military threats and pointed barbs.
The two leaders signed a vaguely worded agreement on denuclearisation of
the Korean peninsula, but progress has since stalled as Washington and
Pyongyang spar over the meaning of the document.
North Korea has taken few concrete steps to abandon its nuclear and
ballistic missile programmes.
Trump said Saturday he hoped to hold a second summit with Kim in early
2019. Xi and Trump discussed North Korea at the G20 summit in Argentina last
weekend.
Ri’s visit to Beijing marked his fifth meeting with Wang this year, as
relations between China and North Korea have warmed following a chill.
Despite their Cold War-era alliance, China has supported a series of United
Nations sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programmes.
BSS/AFP/RY/1823 hrs