BEIJING (Sputnik) — China and Russia have similar positions on North Korea, and Beijing intends to continue cooperation with Moscow on the issue, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Friday.
"Foreign Minister of China [Wang Yi] and Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia [Gennady Gatilov] will participate in a ministerial meeting of the UN Security Council on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Russia and China have similar positions on the issue of the DPRK. Russia is making efforts in this direction. China would like to continue cooperation with Russia and other interested parties to find the right solution to the North Korea issue," Geng said.
Earlier in the day, Wang and Gatilov held a meeting in New York, and agreed to follow through on all UN resolutions on North Korea. They also stressed that further escalation on the Korean peninsula could cause the situation to slip out of control, and suggested offering Pyongyang to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for halting joint exercises between US and South Korean militaries.
The most recent missile launch by Pyongyang reportedly took place early on April 16 but, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, it ultimately failed.
In response to the growing tensions in the region, the United States sent a naval group led by US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson to the Korean Peninsula. On April 14, US media reported that Trump might order a strike against North Korea if Pyongyang decided to carry out another nuclear weapons test.
