UN pressed: Ease NKorea sanctions

CHINA on Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to unanimously back its joint proposal with Russia to ease sanctions on North Korea, warning that dialogue to resolve nuclear tensions must not regress.

The nuclear-armed North has issued increasingly strident declarations in recent weeks, even promising an ominous “Christmas gift” if Washington does not come up with some concessions.

For his part, US President Donald Trump said

Monday that he would be “disappointed” if North Korea had “something in the works,” warning that if it did, “we’ll take care of it.”

“We’re watching it very closely,” Trump said at the White House.

Negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have been largely stalled since the collapse of a February summit in Hanoi between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The North is under heavy US and United Nations sanctions over its nuclear programme, but it has been frustrated at the lack of relief after it declared a moratorium on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests.

“It is an important and sensitive period for the peninsula, and the urgency of a political solution has further increased,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing in Beijing.

The international community should “prevent the peninsula from falling back into tense confrontation, and avoid a serious reversal of the situation,” Geng added.