conflicts
China: US holds key to conflict resolution with North Korea
During a newscast at Seoul train station, people look at a TV showing a North Korean missile launch. (Archive image) Photo: Ahn Young-Joon/AP/dpa
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North Korea has repeatedly tested missiles and thus provoked the West. At the UN, the US now says the door is open for talks.
In light of North Korea’s recent test of an intermediate-range missile, China has called on the US to step up efforts to resolve the conflict.
“They should develop more attractive and practical, flexible approaches, strategies and measures to address North Korea’s concerns,” China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said on Friday before an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the issue. Beijing is monitoring the situation on the Korean peninsula very closely. However, Washington holds the key to solving the problem and needs to show more sincerity. China is North Korea’s closest ally.
North Korea on Monday confirmed the first test of a nuclear-capable medium-range missile since 2017, which could also hit the US Pacific island of Guam. The test of a Hwasong-12 missile has proven the accuracy and effectiveness for its use, the state media reported a day after the test flight. In the weeks before, the country had tested short-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and, according to its own statements, also hypersonic missiles that can fly at more than five times the speed of sound.
A meeting between Kim Jong Un and Joe Biden?
The United Nations Security Council regularly discusses North Korea’s weapons tests and other violations of UN sanctions. The meetings behind closed doors usually remain without joint resolutions and end with statements from individual countries or groups of states.
After the meeting, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged North Korea to accept the US offer for talks without preconditions. It is too early for a meeting between ruler Kim Jong Un and US President Joe Biden because there is still no impression of what can be achieved. “If the conditions are there, we would of course look at it,” says Thomas-Greenfield.
The latest test was “significant escalation”
In a joint statement, the United States and several countries on the UN Security Council, as well as Japan, also rated North Korea’s latest test as a “significant escalation”. This «aims to further destabilize the region. We condemn this illegal action in the strongest possible terms,” said the United States, Great Britain, France, Brazil, Japan, Albania, Ireland, Norway and the United Arab Emirates.
According to experts, the Hwasong-12 has a range of 4500 kilometers and could thus reach the US territory of Guam, where the US maintains a military base. According to experts, the test of a Hwasong-12 does not represent a fundamentally new threat scenario. North Korea tested such a missile several times five years ago.