appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

China stepped in to the centre of the North Korean nuclear weapons crisis yesterday, agreeing to use its diplomatic weight to help resolve the situation.

South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Tae-shik reportedly urged Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Yi to pressure Pyongyang into backing down from its standoff with the US.

China is North Korea's main ally, and its voice is likely to carry considerable weight. Vice-President Hu Jintao said on Monday that China was 'ready to mediate and use its influence'.

After yesterday's talks, South Korean Foreign Ministry officials said both sides agreed to use diplomacy to try to end the crisis.

'The two sides hold the common view that the problem should be resolved peacefully through dialogue and agreed to work together to prevent a further escalation of the situation,' Shin Jung-seung, director general of the ministry's Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau, was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency.

A South Korean Embassy official in Beijing said Seoul would dispatch another senior official to Moscow today to confer with Russian ministry officials. Japan, meanwhile, would send its envoy to Seoul for consultation, he said.

Beijing has always insisted that cutting off food and fuel supplies will deepen the misery of the North Koreans and may even drive more refugees flooding across the border.

North Korea recently made moves towards restarting a nuclear facility at Yongbyon that was frozen under a deal with the US in 1994. It says it would resolve concerns over its nuclear programme if the US signs a non-aggression treat. Washington, however, refuses to engage in discussions unless the nuclear weapons programme is dismantled.



Beijing takes on role as Korean peacemaker