North Korea: US Urges China To Help End Crisis

The US and China have said they are committed to finding a peaceful means of ridding North Korea of its nuclear weapons.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said there had been enough confrontational language on North Korea and he did not want to get into a cycle of threats and counter-threats with the reclusive nation.

"We are determined to make that goal a reality," he said after a series of meetings with top Chinese officials, including the country's foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi.

"China and the United States must together take steps in order to achieve the goal of a denuclearised 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.

John Kerry with China's foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi

"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," he added.

Mr Yang said China was "firmly committed to upholding peace and stability" in the region, and finding a peaceful way to ensure a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

"To properly address the Korean nuclear issue serves the interests of all parties," he added.

The joint pledge follows talks between Mr Kerry and China's communist leaders including President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and foreign minister Wang Yi.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-UN has vowed to beef up its nuclear arsenal

Mr Kerry arrived in Beijing this morning from talks in Seoul with South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, where he warned North Korea a further missile test would be a "huge mistake".

He said the current situation on the Korean peninsula was at a "critical time" and called for Beijing's intervention to halt the escalating tensions with North Korea.

The US wants China - historically Pyongyang's ally - to increase its pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to back down.

Tensions have soared on the Korean peninsula since December, when North Korea test-launched a long-range rocket. In February, it conducted its third nuclear test and drew fresh UN sanctions.

Mr Kerry holds talks with China's President Xi Jinping

Without naming any countries, President Xi had said recently that "no-one should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gains".

In his opening remarks during Saturday's meeting, he assured Mr Kerry China's relationship with the US was "at a new historical stage" and had "got off to a good start".

According to state television, he went on to say that rising tensions in the region were in no-one's interests.

"All sides must bear responsibility for maintaining regional peace and stability and be responsible for the consequences," he was reported to have said.

Mr Kerry was first met by China's foreign minister Wang Yi in Beijing

The purpose of Mr Kerry's visit is to persuade Beijing to help rein in its aggressive ally and bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table over its suspect nuclear programme.

"I think it's clear to everybody in the world that no country in the world has as close a relationship or as significant an impact on the DPRK than China," Mr Kerry said in Seoul before leaving for Beijing.

In the past few weeks, North Korea has declared itself to be in a "state of war" with the South, announced that a mothballed nuclear site is to be reopened and threatened to carry out nuclear attacks against the US

China has backed North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War and could wield tremendous leverage over the isolated communist regime thanks to the vital aid it provides, including almost all of its neighbour's energy imports.

North Korean soldiers seen at work today on Hwanggumpyong Island

It is estimated to provide as much as 90% of its neighbour's energy imports, 80% of its consumer goods and 45% of its food, according to the US-based Council on Foreign Relations.

But analysts say it is wary of pushing too hard for fear of destabilising North Korea, which could send a wave of hungry refugees flooding into China and ultimately lead to a reunified Korea allied with the United States.

After China, Mr Kerry will head to Japan which is also deeply involved in the North Korea issue and which deployed Patriot missiles around Tokyo this week as anticipation of a missile launch by the North's mounted.

Mr Kerry said he hoped China, Japan and the United States would be able to find the "unity" required to offer a "very different set of alternatives for how we can proceed and ultimately how we can defuse this situation".

South Korean army soldiers standing guard on Unification Bridge in Paju

Last week the US brought forward its drone deployment to Japan and sent an unmanned spy plane to its airbase in Misawa, Northern Japan, after North Korea moved two missile launchers to its east coast.

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