Stalled denuclearisation talks and a recent flare-up in tension between the United States and North Korea are not beneficial for Pyongyang, South Korean President Moon Jae-in told Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday.

North Korea has set a year-end deadline for the United States to change what it says is a policy of hostility amid a stalemate in efforts to make progress on their pledge to end the North’s nuclear programme and establish lasting peace.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump have met three times since June 2018, but there has been no substantive progress in dialogue while the North demanded crushing international sanctions be lifted first.Moon told Xi that he highly appreciated China having played an important role on the Korean issue, Moon’s office said in a statement.

“The recent situation where dialogue between North Korea and the United States was suspended and tension has been rising on the peninsula is never beneficial for not just our two countries but also North Korea,” Moon said.

Though various economic matters will also be on the agenda – as well as tensions between Seoul and Tokyo North Korea appears likely to dominate the agenda.

US special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun met with two senior Chinese diplomats during his two-day visit to Beijing last week, following similar meeting in South Korea and Japan days earlier, as diplomats make last-ditch attempts to prevent new confrontation.