US Responsible for Handling North Korean Nuclear Crisis – Beijing

The United States is responsible for handling the North Korean nuclear problem, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman said on Monday, after Pentagon called on Beijing to pressure Pyongyang in this regard.

BEIJING (Sputnik) — Earlier on Friday, US Secretary of Defense Aston Carter said that China shared important responsibility for the situation in North Korea and urged Beijing to compel Pyongyang to put an end to its nuclear tests.

"I think that Mr. Carter was too modest. The US is at the root of the North Korean nuclear problem, but not China. This problem is nothing but a conflict between the United States and DPRK. Probably the US needs to review the approach to the problem and think about the ways of its effective solving. The United States should take on its responsibility, since it is to blame for starting the trouble," Hua Chunying said at a press briefing, commenting on the speech of the Pentagon chief.

North Korea and the United States are in a state of war, since no peace treaty between the sides was signed after the Korean War of 1950-1953. On its part, China used to be North Korea's most important trade and diplomatic partner until Pyongyang conducted nuclear tests in February 2016.

On March 2, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to expand the scope of sanctions restricting trade with Pyongyang.