China calls on US, N Korea to avert ‘collision’
China warned on Wednesday that North Korea and the US were like two trains racing towards a “head-on collision,” calling on both sides to apply the brakes and avert a security crisis.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s warning came after a cascade of events that has sent regional tensions soaring, including provocative North Korean missile tests and annual US-South Korean wargames that infuriate Pyongyang.
Beijing itself is particularly concerned over an American missile-defence system being rolled out in South Korea as a shield against the North Korean threat, but which Wang said also “undermines China’s strategic security.”
He called on North Korea to suspend nuclear and missile activities in exchange for the US and South Korea halting the exercises.
“The two sides are like two accelerating trains coming toward each other with neither side willing to give way,” Wang said at a press conference on the sidelines of China’s annual parliament session.
“The question is: are the two sides really ready for a head-on collision? Our priority now is to flash the red light and apply the brakes on both trains.”
A video of a man describing himself as the son of assassinated North Korean exile Kim JongNam emerged on Wednesday, apparently the first time a family member has spoken about the killing. South Korea’s intelligence agency confirmed the individual on the video -- uploaded to the YouTube page of a previously unknown group calling itself Cheollima Civil Defense (CCD) -is Kim Han-Sol.
His father was murdered at Malaysia’s main airport last month by two women using the banned VX nerve agent, with Pyongyang widely blamed for the assassination. “The man is indeed Kim Han-Sol,” a spokesperson for the National Intelligence Service told AFP.
In the video, the man says in English: “My name is Kim HanSol, from North Korea, part of the Kim family.
“My father has been killed a few days ago. I’m currently with my mother and my sister. We are very grateful to...” he says, before the audio cuts off and his mouth movements are blacked out.