BEIJING — China has urged the United States and North Korea to "hit the brakes" on threatening words and work toward a peaceful resolution of their standoff created by Pyongyang's recent missile tests and threats to fire them toward Guam.
The dispute has also raised fears in South Korea, where a conservative political party Wednesday called for the United States to bring back tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, that the two countries should work together to contain tensions and permit no one to "stir up an incident on their doorstep," according to a statement posted on the Chinese foreign ministry's website.
"The most important task at hand is for the U.S. and North Korea to 'hit the brakes' on their mutual needling of each other with words and actions, to lower the temperature of the tense situation and prevent the emergence of an 'August crisis,'" Wang was quoted as saying in the Tuesday conversation.
The ministry quoted Lavrov as saying tensions could rise again with the U.S. and South Korea set to launch large-scale military exercises Monday.
"A resolution of the North Korea nuclear issue by military force is completely unacceptable and the peninsula's nuclear issue must be peacefully resolved by political and diplomatic methods," Lavrov was quoted as saying.
China is North Korea's main economic partner and political backer, although relations between Beijing and Pyongyang have deteriorated amid the North's continuing defiance of China's calls for restraint. In recent months, China, North Korea's only major ally, has joined with Russia in calling for the U.S. to suspend annual military drills with South Korea in exchange for Pyongyang halting its missile and nuclear tests as a first step toward direct talks.
On Wednesday, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, continued a visit to China after talks the day before with his Chinese counterpart that touched on North Korea.
Speaking to reporters after viewing a Chinese military exercise outside the northeastern city of Shenyang, Dunford said he told Gen. Fang Fenghui that the U.S. hoped diplomatic and economic pressure would convince North Korea to end its nuclear program, but that it was also preparing military options.
"We hope for a peaceful resolution, but we needed to seriously have a conversation about what might happen if there was military action," Dunford said.
Dunford earlier visited South Korea and stops next in Japan. His visit to Asia comes after President Donald Trump last week declared the U.S. military "locked and loaded" and said he was ready to unleash "fire and fury" if North Korea continued to threaten the United States.
North Korea's military Tuesday presented leader Kim Jong Un with plans to launch missiles into waters near the U.S. territory of Guam and "wring the windpipes of the Yankees," even as both Koreas and the United States signaled their willingness to avert a deepening crisis, with each suggesting a path toward negotiations.
Trump tweeted early Wednesday that Kim had "made a very wise and well reasoned decision," amid indications North Korea had decided not to proceed with its multiple missile launch.
"The alternative would have been both catastrophic and unacceptable!" Trump wrote.
During an inspection of the North Korean army's Strategic Forces, which handles the missile program, Kim praised the military for drawing up a "close and careful plan" and said he would watch the "foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees" a little more before deciding whether to order the missile test, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said. Kim appeared in photos sitting at a table with a large map marked by a straight line between what appeared to be northeastern North Korea and Guam, and passing over Japan — apparently showing the missiles' flight route.
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