China and Russia urge end to N. Korea ‘vicious cycle’

NEW YORK: The Chinese and Russian foreign ministers called for a peaceful end to the “vicious cycle” on the Korean peninsula as they met in New York for the UN General Assembly, Beijing said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov urged all parties to seek a “peaceful resolution” to the current stand-off with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons programme, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

“The Korean Peninsula nuclear

Restoring peace talks is also a necessary step.

Wang Yi

problem must be solved through peaceful means,” it quoted Wang as saying, adding that “the deepening vicious cycle must be broken”.

“Restoring peace talks is also a necessary step to carrying out the UN Security Council’s resolution,” he said.

Lavrov said Russia’s position on the issue is “completely identical” to China’s, the statement said.

Russia has joined China’s call for a “dual-track” approach in which North Korea suspends its weapons programme in return for the United States halting military drills.

The White House said earlier that US President Donald Trump had spoken with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping over the phone, say- ing the two leaders were “committed to maximising pressure on North Korea through vigorous enforcement of United Nations Security Council resolutions”.

Trump is currently in New York for the UN General Assembly but Xi – who has a major Communist Party congress next month – is not attending the event.

The UN Security Council last week imposed a fresh set of sanctions, though Washington toned down its original proposals to secure support from China and Russia.