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Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday told his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing the two countries must make diplomatic efforts to ensure that North Korea does not launch a missile and returns to six-country talks on its nuclear program. At a meeting in Beijing, Seoul¡¯s chief diplomat urged his hosts to convince North Korea to resolve the matter.
Li said China had already told the North and other involved countries of ¡°its interest¡± in the missile question. "It¡¯s unacceptable for the issue to be allowed to raise tensions or aggravate the state of affairs," Li was quoted as saying in comments suggesting China has told North Korea to abandon the missile launch.
Li said the most urgent task is getting North Korea to return to the six-party talks soon. "At this juncture, our focus needs to be on getting North Korea to refrain from launching a missile," he added.
An official at the meeting said the Chinese foreign minister did not refer to any concrete intelligence China may have on a missile launch. Ban also met State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, who is in charge of diplomatic activities, before returning to Korea.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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