CHINA URGES N KOREA NOT TO VIOLATE UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS

China urged North Korea not to violate UN Security Council resolutions with its nuclear and missile programmes, after Pyongyang said it had successfully tested what it called an intermediate-range ballistic missile. The United States has been trying to persuade China, North Korea’s lone major ally, to do more to rein in Pyongyang, which has conducted dozens of missile launches and tested two nuclear bombs since the start of last year, in defiance of UN resolutions. The North has made no secret of its plans to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the United States and has ignored calls to halt its weapons programmes, even from China. It says the programme is necessary to counter US aggression.