China urges US, North to hold direct talks

China's foreign ministry yesterday urged the United States and North Korea to sit down with each other face-to-face and resolve their problems, as tension continues to climb on the Korean peninsula after North Korea's latest rocket test.

While China was angered by the launch, it has also expressed concern at plans by Washington and Seoul to deploy an advanced US missile defence system, saying it would impact upon China's own security, reports Reuters.

"The focus of the nuclear issue on the peninsula is between the United States and North Korea," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing.

"We urge the United States and North Korea to sit down and have communications and negotiations, to explore ways to resolve each other's reasonable concerns and finally reach the goal we all want reached."

North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Feb 7 carrying what it called a satellite, drawing renewed international condemnation just weeks after it carried out a nuclear bomb test.

Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has promised to put more satellites in space, even as the international community prepares to punish his regime over a long-range rocket launch just last week, reports AFP.

At a banquet to congratulate the scientists, technicians and officials who contributed to the February 7 launch, Kim noted that the mission had come at "a complex time when hostile forces are more bloody-eyed than ever to strangle" the North, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported yesterday.