Ahead of Kerry’s meetings with Chinese officials on Wednesday, Beijing is making it crystal clear that it has no intention of changing its position on North Korea – effectively scuttling one of the major purposes of Kerry’s trip before he even arrives.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry waves to tourists after he entered the famed Foreign Correspondents Club in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia on January 25, 2016.
During an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday, Minister Yun argued that North Korea is gradually becoming a liability to China rather than a strategic asset due to its nuclear ambitions.
Previous resolutions have not prevented North Korea from continuing its rogue nuclear development program – but the U.S., South Korea and Japan have been united in calling for tougher moves since the North’s claimed hydrogen bomb test January 6.
“For China, the challenge is balancing the need to punish North Korea with their concerns about stability in North Korea”.
Yun added that the North’s nuclear issue requires a customized approach, using UN Security Council sanctions, independent sanctions by countries and pressure from the worldwide community.
Despite what the Republicans running for president may say during national debates or at their campaign rallies, President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are not directly responsible for North Korea’s nuclear tests-just as President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were not directly responsible for the DPRK’s first nuclear explosion in the fall of 2006.
Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying reiterates Beijing’s stance, urging united efforts to push the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Other members of the six-party talks, including the United States, Japan and South Korea, have held an emergency meeting in response to North Korea’s bomb test.
Kyodo News and NK News indicated that the current sticking point is over a USA proposal that would heavily sanction oil exports to North Korea. Hua also threw the ball back in the USA court, saying “it can not exclusively rely on China to realize denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula…”
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No government, including Pyongyang, Seoul, or the United States, should have nuclear arms on the Korean Peninsula, Sergei Lavrov said.
