China airs pessimism on North Korea as Kim touts UN talks

Bloomberg

China expressed pessimism about bringing the North Korean standoff to a peaceful resolution, even as Kim Jong Un’s regime touted new United Nations support for “regular” talks.
Chinese Foreign Minster Wang Yi said on Saturday “the outlook is not optimistic” on the Korean Peninsula and urged all sides to end what he said was a “vicious cycle” of confrontation. Wang’s remarks — part of a broad foreign policy speech in Beijing — came hours after North Korea said a departing UN delegation had agreed to communications to help ease tensions.
Wang said there was still hope for a diplomatic solution to the frictions over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. He reiterated a Chinese “freeze-for-freeze” proposal for North Korea to suspend weapons tests while the US halts military drills in the area. “The first step to pull the situation on the peninsula out of the current ‘black hole’ of confrontation is to create the conditions and atmosphere to restart dialogue,” Wang said.
The UN’s top official for political affairs, Undersecretary General Jeffrey Feltman, left North Korea on Saturday. His visit came as the US sent a B-1B bomber to join massive aerial drills with South Korea after Kim recently tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach any American city.
The UN move was part of a flurry of efforts involving countries from Canada to Germany to try and facilitate talks between Kim’s regime and the US
Still, there have been no
negotiations with Pyongyang for years on its nuclear program, with Kim refusing to agree to US demands he first halt his arms development,
and North Korea in turn accusing the US of planning an invasion and regime change. Repeated calls by South Korea and China for talks have failed to gain traction, even as Kim accelerates his weapons capability with a series of missile and nuclear tests.
North Korea’s state-run
Korean Central News Agency said on Saturday that Feltman’s visit contributed to a deeper understanding and that they agreed to communicate at
“various levels.”
“The UN secretariat’s side expressed its readiness to make a contribution to the relaxa-tion of the tension on the peninsula under the UN Charter,” KCNA said. It added Feltman paid a “courtesy call” on Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and held talks with a vice minister of foreign affairs.
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said in an emailed statement on Saturday that Feltman “emphasized the need for the full implementation of all relevant Security Council resolutions.”
Feltman noted “the urgent need to prevent miscalculations” on the volatile Korean Peninsula, and the benefit of open channels to reduce the risks of conflict, Dujarric said in the statement. The North Korean officials and Feltman agreed that the situation there was “the most tense and
dangerous peace and security issue in the world today.”