N. Korea war at any moment: China
beijing — A conflict over North Korea could break out “at any moment”, China said on Friday, warning there would be no winner in any war as tensions soar with the United States.
The sharp language came after US President Donald Trump said the North Korea problem “will be taken care of”, as speculation mounts the reclusive state could be preparing another nuclear or missile test.
Trump has sent an aircraft carrier-led strike group to the Korean peninsula to press his point, one of a series of measures that indicate his willingness to shake up foreign policy strategy.
“Lately, tensions have risen... and one has the feeling that a conflict could break out at any moment,” Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said.
“If a war occurs, the result is a situation in which everybody loses and there can be no winner.”
Whichever side provoked a conflict “must assume the historic responsibility and pay the corresponding price,” he said in a joint press conference with his visiting French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault.
Wang’s comments mirrored a warning from the North Korean foreign ministry’s Institute for Disarmament and Peace which said “thermo-nuclear war may break out any moment”.
“The US introduces into the Korean peninsula, the world’s biggest hotspot, huge nuclear strategic assets... pushing the situation there to the brink of a war,” it said according to the North’s official news agency KCNA.
Trump also flexed his military muscle last week by ordering cruise missile strikes on a Syrian airbase the US believed was the origin of a chemical weapons attack on civilians in a northern Syria town.
And the US military on Thursday dropped the biggest non-nuclear bomb it possesses on Afghanistan, targeting a complex used by the Daesh, in another move seen as a warning is not afraid to use force.
Trump has repeatedly said he will prevent Pyongyang from its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile capable of reaching the mainland United States.
A White House foreign policy advisor said on Friday that the US is assessing military options in response to the North’s weapons programmes, saying another provocative test was a question of “when” rather than “if.” Pyongyang has responded with defiance, saying it is ready to fight “any mode of war” chosen by the US and even threatening a nuclear strike against American targets. — AFP, AP
lately, tensions have risen ... and one has the feeling that a conflict could break out at any moment,” Wang Yi, Chinese foreign minister