China’s foreign minister urges North Korea to remain calm following UN sanctions
Wang Yi also calls for stalled six-party talks to be restarted as situation on Korean Peninsula reaches ‘near-crisis’ point
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told his North Korean counterpart in Manila on Sunday afternoon that Pyongyang should remain calm in the wake of the announcement of the United Nations’ latest sanctions, and warned the rest of the world that the situation on the Korean Peninsula was at a near-crisis point.
Speaking to journalists after the closed-door meeting, Wang said he’d had an “in-depth exchange” with Ri Yong-ho, China’s official People’s Daily reported.
“China urged the North Korean side to calmly face the new UN Security Council resolution, and not to do anything to violate [it] amid the strong opposition of the international community to [North Korea] launching a missile or [staging a] nuclear test,” he said.
“Of course, we also urge other parties, especially the US and South Korea, not to further escalate regional tensions,” he said.
“The Korean Peninsula has now reached a critical, near-crisis, point, but at the same time it could also be a turning point [for concerned countries] to make a decision on resuming [the stalled six-party] talks,” Wang said.