Seoul\/Beijing
\nSouth Korea will never tolerate North Korea as a nuclear state, nor will Seoul have nuclear weapons, President Moon Jae-in said on Wednesday, as China pledged to work on denuclearisation after setting aside a dispute with Seoul over an anti-missile system.<\/p>\n
The North Korea nuclear crisis will take centre stage when US President Donald Trump begins a trip to Asia at the end of the week and diplomacy has being ramping up ahead of that visit.<\/p>\n
A series of weapons tests by Pyongyang and a string of increasingly bellicose exchanges between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent months has raised fears about an armed conflict.<\/p>\n
Speaking to parliament, Moon said there can be no military action on the Korean peninsula without the South\u2019s consent, adding the government will continue working for peace on the peninsula.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to the joint denuclearisation declaration made by North and South Korea, we cannot tolerate or recognise North Korea as a nuclear state. We too, will not develop nuclear (weapons) or own them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur government was launched in the most serious of times in terms of security. The government is making efforts to stably manage the situation it faces as well as to bring about peace on the Korean peninsula.\u201d<\/p>\n
China\u2019s foreign ministry said Beijing and Seoul will continue to use diplomatic means to address the Korean peninsula issue, after a meeting in Beijing between Lee Do-hoon, South Korea\u2019s representatives of stalled six-party nuclear talks, and his Chinese counterpart, Kong Xuanyou.<\/p>\n
Moon\u2019s remarks and China\u2019s statement came a day after China and South Korea agreed to normalise relations to end a year-long standoff over the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.<\/p>\n
The installation of THAAD had angered China, which feared its powerful radar could see deep into China. South Korea\u2019s tourism, cosmetics and entertainment industries bore the brunt of a Chinese backlash, although Beijing has never specifically linked that to the THAAD deployment.<\/p>\n
North Korea\u2019s state media had no comment on the shift in ties between South Korea and China as of midday on Wednesday. It has not engaged in missile tests since mid-September or any nuclear tests since its biggest one early that month.<\/p>\n
A senior Blue House official had said warmer bilateral ties had seemed to come about from better trust in Seoul by Beijing, which has expressed concerns regarding possible additional deployments of a US anti-missile defence system and military cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, South Korea\u2019s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa had said South Korea has no intention to join a US missile-defence system in the region and would not host additional THAAD batteries. South Korea would not enter any trilateral military alliance with the United States and Japan, Kang added.<\/p>\n
The United States is deciding whether three aircraft carriers currently in the Asia Pacific will carry out an exercise to coincide with Trump\u2019s trip to the region, two US officials said. Japan\u2019s navy is considering sending one or more ships to the exercise if it is held, a Japanese government source said.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s trip includes Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing but he will not go to the heavily fortified demilitarized zone (DMZ) on the border of North Korea and South Korea, a senior White House official said.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s top newspaper, the Communist Party\u2019s official People\u2019s Daily, wrote in a commentary on Wednesday that China expected South Korea to take seriously its responsibility to protect regional peace now that they had set relations back on the correct track.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe appropriate handling of the THAAD issue by China and South Korea can provide an opportunity for both countries to increase cooperation and communication on the peninsula issue,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
But influential state-run tabloid the Global Times warned there would not be an immediate improvement in cultural and business ties, with South Korean firms having to make an effort to win back Chinese customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether or not Chinese consumers buy South Korean products is not totally up the Chinese government,\u201d it said in an editorial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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