U.S. special envoy to North Korea Sung Kim stressed in a meeting on Tuesday with his Chinese counterpart the importance of responding "firmly" to North Korea's ballistic missile tests, calling them "increasingly escalatory actions," the State Department said.
The talks took place in Washington as the United States pursues a new U.N. Security Council resolution against North Korea following its test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile on March 24, the first such launch by Pyongyang since November 2017.
Winning support from China, a key ally of Pyongyang and a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, is crucial to such U.S. efforts. But the prospects of Beijing giving its backing are dim amid the increasing rivalry between the United States and China and tense ties between the United States and Russia, another veto holder, over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Related coverage:
North Korea threatens to use nukes in event of preemptive strike by S. Korea
U.S. sanctions 5 North Korea-linked entities following ICBM test
Japan expands sanctions against N. Korea over missile development
During the talks with China's special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs Liu Xiaoming, Kim emphasized that North Korea has violated existing U.N. Security Council resolutions through each of its 13 ballistic missile launches this year.
They posed "a serious threat to regional stability," Kim was quoted as telling Liu.
Kim and Liu also discussed opportunities to advance the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and how to encourage Pyongyang to engage in "meaningful negotiations" to that end, according to the State Department said.
Kim also said that the United States is committed to engage in "serious and sustained diplomacy" with North Korea, it said.
