China hopes that the DPRK and the United States can resume talks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Thursday at a news briefing.
“We hope relevant parties will meet each other halfway and make positive efforts for the political settlement for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” said Hua.
The U.S. State Department urged Pyongyang to refrain from further provocations and said it still hoped for a resumption of working-level talks on DPRK’s denuclearization.
When asked what message the Trump administration was taking from DPRK’s launch of short-range missiles, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters, “When the president and Chairman Kim were together now just a few weeks back in the DMZ, Chairman Kim made two commitments.”
“One, he said he’d commit not to conduct any nuclear tests and that he would continue to avoid launching intermediate-range and long-range ballistic missiles. He also said that he would put his negotiating team back in the game, that we’d have another round of negotiations, and we’re working our way towards that.”
“North Korea (the DPRK) was engaged in activity before we were having diplomatic conversations far worse than this, more importantly far more dangerous for America and Japan and for South Korea than this. I think this allows the negotiations to go forward. You know, lots of countries posture before they come to the table,” said Pompeo.
The ROK side Thursday urged the DPRK to stop acts that are unhelpful for easing military tension, according to the ROK Defense Ministry.
Tokyo regarded Pyongyang’s move as “extremely regrettable.” “We have confirmed so far that they did not reach our country’s territory or exclusive economic zone,” Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters.
