END WAR OF WORDS
Chinese President’s plea to US and North Korea
CHINESE President Xi Jinping has called for an end to the verbal hostilities between the US and North Korea.
In a phone call with President Donald Trump yesterday, he urged both sides to avoid words or actions that could worsen the situation.
The call came after Mr Trump unleashed a slew of fresh threats against North Korea, declaring the US military “locked and loaded” and warning rival leader Kim Jong Un he “will regret it fast” if he takes any action against American territories or allies.
Mr Trump has pushed China to pressure Pyongyang to halt its controversial nuclear weapons programme that is nearing the capability of targeting the United States.
China Central Television quoted Mr Xi as telling the US leader the “relevant parties must maintain restraint and avoid words and deeds that would exacerbate the tension on the Korean Peninsula”.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s Minju Joson newspaper hit back at Washington in an editorial.
It said: “The powerful revolutionary Paektusan army of the DPRK [North Korea] capable of fighting any war the US wants, is now on the standby to launch fire into its mainland, waiting for an order of final attack.”
The tough talk capped a week in which long-standing tensions between the countries risked boiling over. At Mr Trump’s New Jersey golf course, the President seemed to put Kim on notice. He said: “If he utters one threat in the form of an overt threat or does anything with respect to Guam or any place else that’s an American territory or an American ally, he will truly regret it and he will regret it fast.” Asked if America was going to war, he said: “I think you know the answer to that.” But his comments did not appear to be backed by significant military mobilisation on either side of the Pacific, and a vital, quiet diplomatic channel still remained open. As a precaution, Japan deployed defence drills under the path a North Korean missile might take.