China rejects US call for tougher sanctions against North Korea over nuclear bomb test

United States Secretary of State John Kerry has failed to secure China’s support for tougher sanctions against North Korea in the wake of its fourth nuclear bomb test earlier this month.

The two sides, which held talks in Beijing on Wednesday, have agreed only to pursue a new UN Security Council resolution on the matter.

Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced their joint support for the resolution after holding talks in Beijing to discuss a stronger response to reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had carried out a nuclear bomb test on January 6.

While the US was reportedly seeking punitive sanctions, including bans on oil exports to China’s neighbour and imports of North Korean mineral resources, Beijing emphasised the importance of returning to the negotiating table.

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“Our position will not be swayed by specific events or the temporary mood of the moment,” Wang told reporters, adding that a “new resolution should not provoke new tension in the situation or destabilise the Korean Peninsula”.

He added that sanctions were not “an end to themselves”.

Kerry’s visit came three weeks after North Korea detonated what it claimed was a hydrogen bomb.

“It’s not enough to agree on the goal,” Kerry said. “We believe we need to agree on the meaningful steps necessary to get to the achievement of the goal, to the negotiations that result in denuclearisation.”

The North Korea issue dominated the talks between the two, Kerry said.

The discussions were “long and intensive” and the reason for the almost three-hour delay in the start of the joint news conference, he said.