China expressed pessimism about bringing the North Korean standoff to a peaceful resolution, even as Kim Jong Un’s regime touted new United Nations support for “regular” talks.
Chinese Foreign Minster Wang Yi said last Saturday that “the outlook is not optimistic” on the Korean Peninsula and urged all sides to end what he said was a “vicious cycle” of confrontation. Wang’s remarks—part of a broad foreign-policy speech in Beijing—came hours after North Korea said a departing UN delegation had agreed to communications to help ease tensions.
Wang said there was still hope for a diplomatic solution to the frictions over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. He reiterated a Chinese “freeze-for-freeze” proposal for North Korea to suspend weapons tests while the United States halts military drills in the area. “The first step to pull the situation on the peninsula out of the current ‘black hole’ of confrontation is to create the conditions and atmosphere to restart dialogue,” Wang said.
The UN’s top official for political affairs, Undersecretary-General Jeffrey Feltman, left North Korea last Saturday. His visit came as the US sent a B-1B bomber to join massive aerial drills with South Korea after Kim recently tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach any American city.