China urges North-South Korea to avoid ‘tension-evoking’ moves in Peninsula

BEIJING - China has warned that a possible fresh clash between North Korea and South Korea could shake regional stability, and has urged both governments to avoid moves that it said would provoke tensions.

According to the China Daily, Beijing also asked for the relevant parties to return to the negotiation table, and stressed the urgency and necessity of holding an emergency six-party talks.

The urgings, made twice within a day by Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu, came after growing tension in the Korean Peninsula, as North Korea’s military on Friday urged the Seoul to immediately stop its plans for a live-shelling exercise around Yonphyong Island.

“The situation on the Korean Peninsula is now highly complex and sensitive, and China is deeply concerned and worried. If a bloody clash breaks out on the peninsula, the first to suffer will be the people on both sides of the peninsula, and it would also certainly wreck regional peace and stability, harming surrounding countries,” Zhang said.

Earlier, the head of the North’s delegation to the DPRK-ROK general-level military talks, had reportedly warned that if the Seoul continues with its plan to hold the exercise, Pyongyang would deliver a second and third “self-defense counterattack” that would be bigger and more powerful than the previous one to defend its territorial waters.

China has tried out a number of diplomatic efforts to solve the Korean Peninsula tension, including President Hu Jintao’s telephonic conversation with US President Barack Obama on the issue. (ANI)