China calls for calm over Korean Peninsula

At a meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday, China called on all parties involved in the Korean Peninsula situation to stay calm and keep it from escalating.

Ambassador Wu Haitao, deputy permanent representative of China to the UN, also reiterated China's two-track proposal toward solving the issues.

He said that China has always stood for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and for peace and stability on the peninsula.

China has proposed a dual track approach to solve the current situation: the suspension of nuclear and missile activities by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the suspension of large-scale military exercises by the U.S. and the Republic of Korea.

The approach aims to promote parallel progress in the denuclearization of the peninsula and the establishment of a peace mechanism on the peninsula.

On July 4, China and Russian issued a joint statement proposing a road map for the settlement of the Korean Peninsula's problems. "The joint initiative of China and Russia is practical and feasible," he said.

Wu said that all parties "should keep in mind the big picture of maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula, judge the situation commonly, make wise choices and take practical actions".

He also said the involved parties should create conditions for turning the situation around, and "move toward each other instead of engaging in mutual blaming".

Wu said that there is a need to avoid any negative impact on the livelihood and dignity of the people of the DPRK.

He said that U.S. has committed itself to not seeking a regime change, to not seeking to topple the DPRK government, to not accelerating the reunification of the Korean Peninsula, and to not sending U.S. troops north of the 38th Parallel.

"We hope that the U.S. will turn these four commitments into concrete actions," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the Security Council that the U.S. will not allow the DPRK regime to hold the world hostage. "The U.S. will continue to hold North Korea accountable for its reckless and threatening behavior today and in the future," he said.

Tillerson said that the U.S. will take all necessary steps to defend "against North Korea's aggression, but our hope remains that diplomacy will produce a resolution".