China said on Friday tension over North Korea had to be stopped from reaching an " irreversible and unmanageable stage" as a US aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region amid fears the North may conduct a sixth nuclear weapons test. Current top breaking Philippine…
BEIJING\/PYONGYANG – China said on Friday tension over North Korea had to be stopped from reaching an « irreversible and unmanageable stage » as a US aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region amid fears the North may conduct a sixth nuclear weapons test. Concern has grown since the US Navy fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airfield last week in response to a deadly gas attack, raising questions about US President Donald Trump’s plans for North Korea, which has conducted missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN and unilateral sanctions. The United States has warned that a policy of « strategic patience » is over. US Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia. China, North Korea’s sole major ally and neighbor which nevertheless opposes its weapons program, has called for talks leading to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. « We call on all parties to refrain from provoking and threatening each other, whether in words or actions, and not let the situation get to an irreversible and unmanageable stage, » Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing. North Korea denounced the United States for bringing « huge nuclear strategic assets » to the region as the Carl Vinson strike group with a flag-ship nuclear-powered aircraft carrier steamed closer, and said it stood ready to strike back. « The Trump administration, which made a surprise guided cruise-missile strike on Syria on April 6, has entered the path of open threat and blackmail, » the North’s KCNA news agency quoted the military as saying in a statement. « The army and people of the DPRK will as ever courageously counter those who encroach upon the dignity and sovereignty of the DPRK and will always mercilessly ravage all provocative options of the US with Korean-style toughest counteraction. » DPRK stands for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
