China says resurfacing DPRK tensions 'regrettable'

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‍Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday that after two months of relative calm on the Korean Peninsula, the resurfacing of tensions was regrettable.

"After two months of relative serenity, tension on the Korean Peninsula have increased again," Wang said. "It is with great regret that countries involved have failed to seize the opportunity provided on China's appeal."

Wang, speaking to reporters at a joint briefing with his Mongolian counterpart Damdin Tsogtbaatar, said that China has an open attitude on solutions to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) nuclear issue, but that parties should be consultative, and the stipulations and spirit of UN Security Council resolution should be a common principle for all involving parties to follow.

In late November, the DPRK tested its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile yet, putting the continental US within range and increasing pressure on US President Donald Trump to deal with the nation.

Wang said China firmly opposes the DPRK's development of nuclear weapons and nuclear tests.

He added that it is the responsibility of the international community to follow UN Security Council sanctions.

"The UN Security Council resolution represents the common will of the international community and it is the responsibility of every member state to abide by it," Wang said. He said that it's the very reason China has always opposed DPRK's negligence of the resolution's stipulation over the launching of ballistic missiles.

The DPRK's leader Kim Jong Un inspects tires at a factory in Pyongyang, December 3, 2017. /Reuters Photo

DPRK's latest missile launch came one week after the US announced that it would list the country as a state sponsor of terror. The US Treasury Department expanded its list of DPRK sanctions against 34 additional individuals and companies the next day.

China also opposes any actions to cause more tension on the issue and continuously pushes forward peace talks among relevant parties, Wang said, adding that measures implemented outside the UN framework are illegal and harmful to the execution of the resolutions.

The Republic of Korea (ROK) and the United States began five-day joint military drills on Monday, involving 230 warplanes and about 12,000 US Air Force personnel and marines training alongside their ROK counterparts at eight military installations, according to a statement released by the US Air Force.

DPRK's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country on Sunday said air drills between the United States and the ROK would "push the already acute situation on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of nuclear war."

(CGTN's Ren Xueqian also contributed to the story.)

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