East Asian leaders express opposition to missile test

SEOUL: China’s foreign ministry has expressed opposition to North Korea’s test-launch of a ballistic missile and called on all sides to exercise restraint.

A ministry spokesman, Hua Chunying, said in a statement that the situation on the Korean peninsula is “complex and sensitive”.

In Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that their countries are both playing an “important role as a balancing power” in world affairs by seeking a peaceful way out for of the crises in Syria and the Korean Peninsula.

China, North Korea’s most important ally and key provider of food and fuel aid, has sought to cool tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes, repeatedly calling for dialogue.

Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida says he and his South Korean counterpart have agreed that dialogue for dialogue’s sake with North Korea is meaningless in the wake of Pyongyang’s latest missile test.

Kishida says he and South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se shared the view that dialogue is important for resolving the North Korean tensions.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has strongly condemned rival North Korea’s missile test-launch as a “clear” violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a “serious challenge” to international peace and security.

Kishida says the international community should prioritise efforts to implement the existing UN Security Council resolutions barring North Korea’s missile and nuclear technology more thoroughly.

He says Japan and the United States also started discussing the sanctions on North Korea, but did not elaborate. — AP