WASHINGTON: The United States has urged China to use its influence to encourage North Korea to return to diplomacy and end escalation, the State Department said Monday.
Speaking at a briefing Spokesman Matthew Miller said the US has always asked Chinese officials during conversations that the country is in a better position to use its influence with the DPRK to urge the DPRK to take de-escalatory steps and to urge the DPRK to return to diplomacy.
DPRK means the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea the official name of the country.
He said the US will continue to encourage China to use its influence to any degree that is possible that they are willing to do.
Chinese President Xi and Russian President Putin are expected to meet at an international forum on the Belt and Road initiative, a China-led infrastructure project, this month. Earlier Putin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at a Russian spaceport on September 13.
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The anticipated meeting would come as the US has been consolidating trilateral security cooperation with its core Asian allies of South Korea and Japan in the midst of North Korea’s military threats.
Miller added that Washington worries about deepening cooperation between Russia and North Korea.
He said that the US would continue to be concerned about increased relations between Russia and North Korea, especially when it comes to any potential export of weapons either from the DPRK to Russia or from Russia to the DPRK.
