EU urges 'peaceful' approach to Korean crisis

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The EU's foreign policy chief Monday called for “peaceful, not military” means to resolve the Korean Peninsula crisis, urging Pyongyang to avoid any “further provocative action” that could stoke tensions.

“At such a critical juncture, the EU supports diplomatic work with our partners aimed at the de-escalation of the situation and achieving the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through peaceful, not military, means,” Federica Mogherini said in a statement.

The statement was issued after a meeting of a key EU panel which agreed the bloc would reach out to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Republic of Korea (ROK), the US, China, Russia and Japan.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini arrives to chair an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels, Belgium, July 17, 2017. /Reuters Photo

“There is an urgent need for a de-escalation of tensions on the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” Mogherini said.

“(…) We therefore call on the DPRK to refrain from any further provocative action that can only increase regional and global tensions.”

DPRK’s “continued acceleration” of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs “constitutes serious and worrying violations” of its international obligations, Mogherini warned.

Tensions have been mounting since DPRK’s two intercontinental ballistic missile tests last month, which appeared to bring much of the US within range.

Its military said last week that it would finalize by mid-August its detailed plan to test-fire four intermediate-range ballistic missiles in an “enveloping fire” around the US Pacific island of Guam.

On Tuesday, Pyongyang’s state media said DPRK's leader Kim Jong Un “examined the plan for a long time” and “discussed it” with commanding officers. Kim said he would hold off on the launch.

Source(s): AFP