China and Russia URGE US and North Korea to END provocation in plea to stop World War 3
CHINA and Russia have both called on Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un to end the cycle of provocation after North Korea said they “shall not hide” if World War 3 breaks out.
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The North Korean Foreign Ministry wrote in a statement this week that they “do not wish for a war” but “shall not hide from it” as tensions continue to heighten on the Korean Peninsula.
The hermit kingdoms Foreign Ministry also wrote "The remaining question now is: when will the war break out?" after a US B-1B bomber joined US and South Korean military exercises, that North Korea has said is pushing the peninsula to the brink of nuclear war.
The US bomber flew from Guam and joined US F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters which were seen as a reaction to North Korea’s latest new intercontinental ballistic missile test.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a statement on Wednesday: "We hope all relevant parties can maintain calm and restraint and take steps to alleviate tensions and not provoke each other.
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“China and Russia have a common stance on the Korean peninsula issue.
“Both countries have come up with initiatives to resolve the issue peacefully, putting forward clear and understandable projects, which may help find a way out of the current situation.
"The outbreak of war is not in any side's interest. The ones that will suffer the most are ordinary people."
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North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un is seen during the inspection of a potato flour factory in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang
This was echoed by Russia, after the Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, told US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that the large-scale military exercises and aggressive nature of Trump's statements were adding to the rise in tensions.
He said: “I am not trying to excuse this (North Korean) launch.
"We condemned it and demanded that North Korea fully complied with the resolution of the UN Security Council. But the United States acted as if they wanted to provoke them for a new risky venture. And so they did.
"Of course, now it will get more difficult to create conditions for renewing the dialogue.”
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Mr Lavrov also said that he has passed a message from Rex Tillerson to Pyongyang, which requested the two counties sit down and try to end the crisis.
He said: "We know that North Korea wants above all to talk to the United States about guarantees for its security.
"We are ready to support that, we are ready to take part in facilitating such negotiations.”
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US spokeswomen Heather Nauert said Washington will not talk unless North Korea is "willing to denuclearise."
She said: "It is something that Russia says it agrees with; it is something China has said it agrees with, and many other nations around the world as well."
She went on to say that North Korea had not shown "any interest in sitting down and having any kind of serious conversations when they continue to fire off ballistic missiles."
