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U.S. says time to act on North Korea, China says not up to Beijing alone

28 April 2017 20:05 (UTC +04:00)

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned on Friday that failure to curb North Korea's nuclear and missile development could lead to 'catastrophic consequences,' while China and Russia cautioned Washington against threatening military force, APA reports quoting Reuters, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Washington has recently lavished praise on Beijing for its efforts to rein in its ally Pyongyang, but Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made clear to the U.N. Security Council it was not only up to China to solve the North Korean problem.

"The key to solving the nuclear issue on the peninsula does not lie in the hands of the Chinese side," Wang told the 15-member council in remarks contradicting the White House belief that it does wield significant influence.

The ministerial meeting of the council, chaired by Tillerson, exposed old divisions between the United States and China on how to deal with North Korea. China wants talks first and action later, while the United States wants North Korea to curtail its nuclear program before such talks start.

"It is necessary to put aside the debate over who should take the first step and stop arguing who is right and who is wrong," Wang told the council. "Now is the time to seriously consider resuming talks."

Tillerson responded: "We will not negotiate our way back to the negotiating table with North Korea, we will not reward their violations of past resolutions, we will not reward their bad behavior with talks."

North Korea did not take part in the meeting.

In Tillerson's first visit to the United Nations he scolded the Security Council for not fully enforcing sanctions against North Korea, saying if the body had acted, tensions over its nuclear program might not have escalated.

"Failing to act now on the most pressing security issue in the world may bring catastrophic consequences," he said.

The United States was not pushing for regime change and preferred a negotiated solution, but Pyongyang, for its own sake, should dismantle its nuclear and missile programs, he said.

"The threat of a nuclear attack on Seoul, or Tokyo, is real, and it's only a matter of time before North Korea develops the capability to strike the U.S. mainland," Tillerson said.

Tillerson repeated the Trump administration's position that all options are on the table if Pyongyang persists with its nuclear and missile development, but Wang said military threats would not help.