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Teddy Ng

The Korean peninsula is engulfed in a “vicious cycle” of confrontation but there is still a chance for a peaceful resolution to the crisis, according to China’s foreign minister.
The assessment on Saturday by Foreign Minister Wang Yi came as North Korea blamed the United States for tensions in the region, accusing Washington of “nuclear blackmail”.
The US and North Korea have rattled sabres over the last fortnight – the United States sent a B-1B bomber to join massive aerial drills with South Korea on Wednesday a week or so after North Korea tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile.
North Korea blames United States for high tensions as rare UN talks conclude
Wang said Washington and Seoul should stop holding major military exercises and Pyongyang put a halt to its nuclear weapons programme.
“The situation on the Korean peninsula is still plunged into the strong and vicious cycle of confrontation, and the prospect is not optimistic,” he said.

“We should pull the Korean peninsula back from the black hole of confrontation to create the necessary conditions for resuming talks.”
Wang also stressed that any action outside the framework of the United Nations Security Council would damage the council’s unity and the legitimate rights of other nations.
The UN has moved up a gear to try to get ahead of the crisis in recent days.
UN undersecretary general Jeffrey Feltman arrived in Beijing on Saturday after wrapping up a five-day visit to Pyongyang, the first by a UN diplomat of his rank since 2010.
Could Russia replace China as power broker on North Korea?
During the trip he met North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho and vice-foreign minister Pak Myong-kuk, North Korean state news agency KCNA reported.
“At these meetings, our side said the US policy of hostility towards [North Korea] and its nuclear blackmail are to blame for the current tense situation on the Korean peninsula,” the report said.
It added that Pyongyang agreed with the UN “to regularise communications through visits at various levels”.

Pyongyang repeated its position that US and South Korean military drills amounted to provocation and revealed “an intention to mount a surprise nuclear pre-emptive strike against [North Korea]”.
In the last week, Beijing has dispatched vice-foreign minister Zheng Zeguang to Washington to discuss the crisis and other issues with US officials, according to the Chinese embassy in Washington.
North Korea says nuclear war inevitable because of military drills by US and South Korea
But ties between China and North Korea have deteriorated, with Pyongyang dismayed at Beijing’s support for UN sanctions – so much so that Song Tao, a special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, failed to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on a trip to Pyongyang last month.
Russia has also offered to set up direct talks between the US and North Korea, a move China’s foreign ministry said it welcomed.
But diplomatic observers said it was yet another sign that North Korea had drifted further away from China.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse


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Is there any way back from the US-North Korea black hole of confrontation? China’s foreign minister is not optimistic

South Korean and US military aircraft take part in drills over South Korea on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho meets with Jeffrey Feltman, UN undersecretary-general for political affairs, in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) December 7, 2016. KCNA via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THIS IMAGE. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. SOUTH KOREA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN SOUTH KOREA?

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a joint press conference at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Friday, Sept. 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Is there any way back from the US-North Korea black hole of confrontation? China’s foreign minister is not optimistic

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The crisis can be resolved but sabre-rattling has to stop, Wang Yi says

The crisis can be resolved but sabre-rattling has to stop, Wang Yi says