US Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said they were close to agreement on a UN resolution to punish North Korea after its nuclear test and rocket launch in Washington on Tuesday.
China has been reluctant to impose the kind of tough sanctions on its neighbor and traditional ally that the US has been seeking, but Wang and Kerry both stressed the importance of cooperation between the US and China, and expressed hope of reaching agreement soon on a UN Security Council resolution that is expected to stiffen international sanctions against North Korea.
Kerry said a draft was being evaluated in both Washington and Beijing, and if approved it would go beyond previous resolutions against North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs.
Wang said a resolution could be passed in the “near future.”
It has been seven weeks since North Korea’s Jan. 6 nuclear test, which was followed by a Feb. 7 rocket launch. While China has joined in the international criticism, it has balked at imposing sanctions that could threaten the stability of North Korea.
Wang said a resolution alone cannot resolve the North Korean nuclear issue and that dialogue is needed. He said China is urging a “parallel track” in which there were both talks on denuclearization — the top priority of the US — and replacing the armistice that ended the 1950 to 1953 Korean War with a formal peace treaty — a key demand of Pyongyang.
The long-standing US position has been that North Korea needs to disarm first, but the administration of US President Barack Obama has been indicating some flexibility on this point, although it says Pyongyang remains reluctant to resume talks on its nuclear arsenal.
Kerry said that North Korea can ultimately have a peace agreement with the US if it comes to the table to negotiate denuclearization.
“We want a negotiated outcome,” he said.
Already this month, the US has taken tougher steps of its own against North Korea, tightening sanctions and announcing it would hold talks with its ally South Korea on deploying a missile defense system.
Kerry said that both Russia and China have expressed concern over the missile defense system. He said the system would not be needed “if we can get to denuclearization.”
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