China calls for constructive efforts to ease Korean tensions

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China called on Monday for all countries to make constructive efforts to ease tension after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said the latest UN sanctions against it are an act of war and tantamount to a complete economic blockade.

The UN Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on the DPRK on Friday for its recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test, seeking to limit its access to refined petroleum products and crude oil and its earnings from workers abroad.

The US-drafted resolution also caps crude oil supplies to the DPRK at four million barrels a year and commits the Council to further reductions if it were to conduct another nuclear test or launch another ICBM.

The DPRK on Sunday rejected the resolution, calling it an act of war.

Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the resolution appropriately strengthened the sanctions but was not designed to affect ordinary people, normal economic exchanges and cooperation, or humanitarian aid.

Members of the UN Security Council vote 15-0 to impose new sanctions on DPRK. /Reuters Photo

Hua noted it also called for the use of peaceful means to resolve the issue and that all sides should take steps to reduce tension.

“In the present situation, we call on all countries to exercise restraint and make proactive and constructive efforts to ease the tensions on the peninsula and appropriately resolve the issue,” she told a daily news briefing.

Tension has been rising over the DPRK’s nuclear and missile programs, which it pursues in defiance of years of UN Security Council resolutions, with the bellicose rhetoric coming from both Pyongyang and the White House.

In November, the DPRK demanded a halt to what it called “brutal sanctions,” saying the sanctions imposed after its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3 constituted genocide.

The DPRK on Nov. 29 said it successfully tested a new ICBM that put the US mainland within range of its nuclear weapons.

US diplomats have made clear they are seeking a diplomatic solution but proposed the new, tougher sanctions resolution to ratchet up pressure on the DPRK’s leader.

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Source(s): Reuters