Beijing refutes the 'China influence' allegation on DPRK

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Beijing stands for stability and peace on the Korean Peninsula and for settlement of the issue through talks, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday, dismissing allegations that Beijing is influencing Pyongyang after it threatened to drop a scheduled meeting with US President Donald Trump.

China always firmly supports the denuclearization of the peninsula and the political settlement of the issue, the spokesman Lu Kang told reporters in a regular briefing.

Beijing will continue to support the building of trust between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Lu said, calling on all parties concerned to take on responsibilities on resolving the tension.

In remarks in the White House's Oval Office on Thursday, Trump told reporters that the DPRK was possibly being influenced by Beijing – referring to the recent visits Kim made to China, after Pyongyang threatened to pull out from the summit between leader's Kim Jong Un and the US president and called off a round of talks with Seoul, citing joint United State-Republic of Korea (ROK) military exercises.

A TV news screenshot shows DPRK leader Kim Jong Un (R) and US President Donald Trump (L) at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, May 16, 2018. /VCG Photo

The drastic change in tone came after months of easing tension and just days after the DPRK announced it will publicly shut down its nuclear test site and a week after releasing three detained Americans.

"If you remember two weeks ago, all of a sudden out of nowhere Kim Jong Un went to China to say hello again – second time – to President Xi,” Trump said when meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

"It could very well be that he’s influencing Kim Jong Un. We’ll see what happens. Meaning the President of China, President Xi, could be influencing,” Trump said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping talks with DPRK' leader Kim Jong Un in Dalian, China, May 8, 2018. /Xinhua Photo

But the US president said the US was not pursuing the “Libya model” in getting the DPRK to abandon its nuclear weapons program. US National Security Adviser John Bolton has repeatedly suggested the Libya model of unilateral disarmament for the DPRK, most recently on Sunday.

The DPRK's First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan called Bolton's suggestion “absurd”.

“(The) world knows too well that our country is neither Libya nor Iraq which have met miserable fates,” he said.

Trump said the deal he was looking at would give Kim Jong Un "very strong" protection.

"He would be there, he would be running his country, his country would be very rich,” Trump said.

DPRK's leader Kim Jong Un visits a nuclear program in this undated photo released by its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang, Sept. 3, 2017. /VCG Photo‍

"The Libya model was a much different model. We decimated that country,” he said, adding that it would only come into play “most likely” if a deal could not be reached with the DPRK.

But Trump stressed that Pyongyang would have to abandon its nuclear weapons.

Lu said China welcomes President Trump's remarks that try to address Pyongyang's concerns.

The peninsula issue is a security issue, and it is important to address the DPRK's security concerns when parties try to push on the denuclearization of the region, Lu stressed.