The United States and China made progress Tuesday towards a draft UN sanctions resolution to punish North Korea for its recent nuclear tests and push it to the negotiating table.
The United States and China made progress Tuesday towards a draft UN sanctions resolution to punish North Korea for its recent nuclear tests and push it to the negotiating table.
After talks in Washington, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi and US secretary of state John Kerry said the draft was still being “evaluated” by officials before being submitted to the UN Security Council.
But both powers vowed that they would not accept a nuclear-armed North Korea and expressed confidence the resolution would be strong enough to force Kim Jong-Un’s isolated regime to reconsider its strategy. China wants its neighbour to halt its weapons program — most recently shown by the January 6 test of an atomic bomb Pyongyang claims was a new thermonuclear device — and return to six-party international talks.
But Beijing has been more cautious than Washington in its approach, fearing that too severe a response could trigger the collapse of the pariah regime and a political and humanitarian crisis on its border.
Nevertheless, Mr Wang said his talks with Mr Kerry had made progress in agreeing on a draft sanctions resolution to be presented to the full UN Security Council.
