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\nA top U.S. official on North Korea held a video call this week with China\u2019s envoy on Korean Peninsula affairs in which they discussed the growing military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, the State Department said on Friday.
The U.S. senior official for North Korea, Jung Pak, and her Chinese counterpart, Liu Xiaoming, also addressed North Korea\u2019s \u201cincreasingly destabilizing and escalatory behavior,\u201d the department said in a statement.
It said the growing military cooperation between Russia and North Korea was \u201cin violation of numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions.\u201d
A Chinese foreign ministry statement said it was \u201cin the common interest of the region and the international community to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and push forward the process of political settlement\u2026 .\u201d
It said the \u201cparties concerned should \u2026 address each other\u2019s concerns in a balanced manner through meaningful dialogue,\u201d and that China and the United States had agreed to maintain contact on the issue.
The Chinese statement made no mention of Russia, which has long been party to U.N. sanctions on North Korea over the latter\u2019s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs but has stepped up ties with Pyongyang since invading Ukraine in 2022.
Washington has accused North Korea of supplying Russia with artillery shells and missiles used in Ukraine.
Moscow and Pyongyang deny this but have vowed to deepen military relations.
The U.S. statement said the call with China followed a Feb. 16 meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in which they \u201caffirmed the importance of continued communication on (North Korea) issues at all levels.\u201d<\/p>\n