China says hopes North and South Korea can make contact soon

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is interviewed by the media on the sidelines of the 50th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum (ARF) in Pasay City, metro Manila, Philippines August 6, 2017. (REUTERS/Rouelle Umali/Pool)

China’s foreign minister on Monday said his country supported initiatives put forward by South Korea to handle tensions on the Korean peninsula and Beijing was ready to see contact made soon between the North and South on the issue.

Wang Yi told reporters on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Manila that he hoped those countries could improve relations, and that North Korea’s foreign minister did not entirely reject differences in opinion voiced by his South Korean counterpart.

North Korea’s Ri Yong-ho told his Kang Kyung-wha in a meeting on Sunday that Seoul’s proposal to improve ties with the North “lacks sincerity”, the South’s Yonhap News Agency reported on Monday.