China Asks US, North Korea to Avoid Provoking Each Other
TERHAN (Tasnim) - Amid raging tension on the Korean peninsula, China on Monday asked the US and North Korea to exercise restraint and avoid provoking each other, saying it was "very concerned" over their escalating war of words.
"Indeed, the Chinese side is very concerned about the escalation of the situation in the Korean peninsula," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a media briefing on Monday.
"We think the parties should refrain from escalating words and deeds to avoid adding fuel to the fire. Parties should not provoke each other, exercise restraint and do not vent their emotions but find way out for this issue," he said, quoted by the Press Trust of India.
A way out can be found when the parties stop the provocative statements, the official added.
"We think the situation remains highly complex. The pressing concern is to fully implement all the UNSC resolutions concerning Korean Peninsula including the latest one," Lu said.
He was reacting to statements by North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho at the UN that firing rockets at the US have become inevitable.
Trump responded with a warning, saying if the North Korean foreign minister was echoing thoughts of his leader Kim in his speech at the UN, "they won't be around much longer."
Tensions have dramatically risen on the Korean peninsula after North Korea early this month conducted its biggest nuclear test, which its state-run KCNA news agency described as a hydrogen bomb.
US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un have traded increasingly threatening and personal insults as Pyongyang races towards its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the US.