Stern warning for North Korea

Don’t break UN council resolutions, China urges ally

BEIJING: China has urged North Korea not to violate United Nations 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 North Korea, which has conducted dozens of missile launches and tested two nuclear bombs since the start of last year, in defiance of the 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. It says the programme is necessary to counter US aggression.

“We urge North Korea to not do anything to again violate UN Security Council resolutions,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement posted on the Foreign Ministry’s website yesterday.

“At the same time, we hope all parties can maintain restraint, not be influenced by every single incident ... and persist in carrying out Security Council resolutions on North Korea and persevere with the resolution of the issue through peaceful means, dialogue and consultation.”

North Korea said on Monday that Sunday’s launch met all technical requirements that could allow mass production of the missile, which it calls the Pukguksong-2, although US officials and experts questioned the extent of its progress.

The test was North Korea’s second in a week and South Korea’s new liberal government said it dashed its hopes for peace on the peninsula.

US President Donald Trump has warned that a “major, major conflict” with North Korea is possible over its weapons programmes, although US officials say tougher sanctions, not military force, are the preferred option to counter the North Korean threat.

Wang also said China had seen a “new change” on the part of South Korea with its willingness to “actively seek appropriate channels for dealing with the THAAD missile systems issue”.

“We hope South Korea can ... quickly pull out the thorn stuck in the throat of bilateral relations," Wang said.