China, S Korea not to tolerate war on Korean peninsula

SEOUL: China’s President Xi Jinping and his South Korean counterpart on Thursday said they would not tolerate war on the Korean peninsula, the South’s Yonhap news agency reported.

The two countries will cooperate in applying sanctions and pressure on North Korea, the agency added, after Xi met South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Beijing. Xi made his comments to visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in just days after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions.

But the White House said on Wednesday that no negotiations could be held with North Korea until it improved its behaviour. The White House has declined to say whether President Donald Trump, who has taken a tougher rhetorical line toward North Korea, approved Tillerson’s overture.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tillerson’s offer of direct contacts with North Korea was "a very good signal", while warning that a US strike on the North would have catastrophic consequences.

North Korea tested its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile on Nov 29, which it said could put all of the United States within range, in defiance of international pressure and UN sanctions.

While South Korea and China share the goal of getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and stop testing increasingly sophisticated long-range missiles, the two have not seen eye-to-eye on how to achieve this.

Meeting in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Xi told Moon that the goal of denuclearising the Korean peninsula must be stuck to, and that war and chaos cannot be allowed to happen, state media said.

"The peninsula issue must in the end be resolved via dialogue and consultation," Xi was cited as saying. China and South Korea have an important shared interest in maintaining peace and stability, and China is willing to work with South Korea to prevent war and promote talks, Xi added. China would support North and South Korea to improve relations as this was good for easing tension, he said.