Tokyo, 14 March, /AJMEDIA
U.S. special envoy to North Korea Sung Kim has called on China to join the United States in censuring North Korea over its recent missile launches, which were found to have been tests involving a new intercontinental ballistic missile system, the State Department said Sunday.
The phone call with Kim’s Chinese counterpart Liu Xiaoming took place on Thursday, the same day the U.S. government announced its analysis that North Korea had tested the new ICBM system with its two most recent missile launches on Feb. 27 and March 5.
According to the department, Kim told Liu that he was concerned that the two launches demonstrated Pyongyang’s “determination to advance its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs and continue an increasingly escalatory path.”
Noting that ensuring regional stability is in the interests of both countries, Kim called upon China, an important ally and economic benefactor of North Korea, to join Washington “in publicly condemning” the tests and encouraged Beijing to urge Pyongyang to “cease its destabilizing activity and return to dialogue.”
Kim also reiterated that the United States “remains open to diplomacy” with North Korea to make progress toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, according to the department.
The U.S. government has said the recent tests could be a precursor to an ICBM launch “at full range.”
The missiles fired toward the Sea of Japan on Feb. 27 and March 5 were apparently launched on lofted trajectories to limit their flight distance.
North Korea has conducted nine series of missile tests this year. The country also hinted in January that it could resume nuclear and ICBM tests for the first time since 2017, raising concern over the ongoing development of nuclear-capable ICBMs that could potentially reach the U.S. homeland.
