TRUMP CALLS FOR CHINA TO CUT NORTH KOREA TIES

Donald Trump arrived in Beijing Wednesday after earlier calling on China to stop all trade with North Korea or have the regime’s growing nuclear threat on its “conscience” ahead of crunch talks.

The U.S. president said China should feel no “obligation” to help its neighbouring regime and urged it to “sever all ties.”

He also described North Korea as a “hell that no person deserves” and issued a warning directly to the regime: “Do not underestimate us and do not try us.”

The intervention came in an address to South Korea’s national assembly before Trump flew into China as part of his five-nation tour of Asia.

Despite the tough rhetoric, Trump enjoyed a tour of the Forbidden City alongside Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, as the pair’s personal “bromance” was further deepened.

And there are reportedly hopes from Trump’s team that US$250 billion of trade deals between companies can be agreed to during the visit.

China shares a land border with North Korea and remains the regime’s main ally, providing most of its energy despite cutting some trade after recent United Nations sanctions.

Trump urged them to go further.

“We call on every nation, including China and Russia, to fully implement UN Security Council resolutions, downgrade diplomatic relations with the regime and sever all ties of trade and technology,” he said.

“It is our responsibility and our duty to confront this danger together, because the longer we wait, the greater the danger grows and the fewer the options become.

“And to those nations that choose to ignore this threat — or worse still, to enable it — the weight of this crisis is on your conscience.”

Trump, who has already visited Japan during his tour, also issued a direct warning to Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s young leader.

He said: “The weapons you are acquiring are not making you safer. They are putting your regime in grave danger. Every step you take down this dark path increases the peril you face.

“North Korea is not the paradise your grandfather envisioned. It is a hell that no person deserves.”

Trump attempted to made an unexpected visit to the Korean Peninsula’s demilitarized zone, but fog shrouded the border, stopping the trip.

While Trump and Xi are expected to clash over their approaches to trade and North Korea in talks, the pair enjoyed a day of sightseeing Wednesday.