Top world leaders discuss NKorea

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke again Wednesday about how to resolve the North Korean crisis as the U.S. seeks support for more-stringent U.N. sanctions at a Security Council meeting next week.

Xi reiterated China’s commitment to a denuclearized Korean peninsula while Trump emphasized Beijing’s role in influencing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to a summary of the call published in the People’s Daily. The report didn’t say any breakthrough was achieved ahead of a Security Council session the U.S. has requested for Monday.

The call between the U.S. and Chinese leaders came after Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the day expressed concern that halting oil supplies to North Korea would hurt its people. Putin’s comments followed a request from South Korean President Moon Jae-in that he support more-stringent U.N. sanctions.

“Stopping oil supply to North Korea is inevitable,” Moon’s spokesman, Yoon Young-chan, quoted him as saying. “I’m asking for Russia’s cooperation.”

Putin explained at length to Moon that sanctions won’t work on North Korea and that halting its oil supply would damage hospitals, his foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said after the meeting. On Tuesday, Putin told reporters that Russia’s trade with North Korea is “almost zero,” and that its quarterly exports of 40,000 tons of oil to the country are “as good as nothing” relative to its global sales.

The two leaders’ interaction raises questions over how far the Security Council will go in punishing Kim’s regime after it conducted its sixth and most-powerful nuclear test on Sunday. Russia and China both hold vetoes and have opposed doing anything that could lead to the collapse of Kim’s regime.

Trump has vowed to escalate sanctions and also has warned North Korea of “fire and fury” if it continues threatening America. He also has threatened to cut off trade with all countries that do business with North Korea. China is North Korea’s biggest trading partner.

Stocks fell in most Asian markets Wednesday, and almost every sector of the Stoxx Europe 600 Index retreated, as nations grapple with how to deal with North Korea’s escalating provocations.