China says it will back new measures against N.Korea

Beijing, Sep 8 (IANS) China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said his country will support new measures against North Korea following the latest nuclear test by the Kim Jong-un regime.

Given the situation on the Korean peninsula, the UN Security Council should seek a "further response" and adopt new measures, Yi said at a press conference on Thursday after a meeting with Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara, although he added that sanctions were only part of the solution, Efe news reported.

New measures by the international community should be aimed at "harming the nuclear and missile program of the government of North Korea while helping restart dialogue and negotiation," Wang said.

"We believe that sanctions and pressure are just half of the key to the problem, and the other half is dialogue and negotiation," Wang said.

"Only by combining these two together will it be possible to resolve the Korean peninsula issue," he said.

Wang's remarks came after Chinese President Xi Jinping's telephone conversation with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, on Wednesday night, in which the Chinese leader called for a peaceful solution to the conflict.

After the latest nuclear test by North Korea at the weekend, the US= and its allies called for tougher sanctions against the North Korean regime.

After the test, Trump said he was considering suspending trade with any country that did business with Pyongyang and hinted that he did not rule out an attack on North Korea.

Following the conversation with Xi, the US leader said that a military response was not his first option.