MOSCOW/BEIJING, April 13 (RIA Novosti) – The United States and China are committed to working together to resolve tensions on the Korean Peninsula, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday.
Speaking in Beijing after talks with Chinese officials and ahead of a meeting with China's foreign policy chief, Yang Jiechi, the US top diplomat said both sides were “determined” to work together to secure a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula
"China and the United States must together take steps in order to achieve the goal of a denuclearized Korean peninsula. And today we agreed that further discussions to bear down very quickly with great specificity on exactly how we will accomplish this goal,” Kerry said, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Kerry also said the United States and China were united in their "our joint commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner. We agreed that this is of critical importance for the stability of the region and indeed for the world and indeed for all of our nonproliferation efforts."
China's foreign policy chief, Yang Jiechi, said Beijing would try to resolve the current crisis "peacefully through dialogue,” and would work with the United States, Japan, South Korea and others "to play a constructive role" in building toward international talks on North Korea.
He also said China was “firmly committed to upholding peace and stability and advancing the denuclearization process on the Korean peninsula. We maintain that the issue should be handled and resolved peacefully."
Tensions rose sharply on the Korean Peninsula in December after North Korea tested a Taepodong 2 missile and again in February when it carried out its third nuclear test. The UN hit back with sanctions, and the start of joint military drills between South Korea and the United States last month further irritated the North, which threatened to carry out a nuclear attack on the US mainland, as well as on US forces in the region.
