Keep channels open

The United Nations political affairs chief told senior North Korean officials during a visit to Pyongyang this week that there was an "urgent need to prevent miscalculations and open channels to reduce the risks of conflict," the world body said.

Jeffrey Feltman, the highest-level UN official to visit North Korea since 2012, met with Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Vice Minister Pak Myong Guk, the United Nations said in a statement on Saturday after Feltman arrived back in Beijing.

Feltman emphasized the need for the full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions and that the international community was committed to achieving a peaceful solution.

"He also said there can only be a diplomatic solution to the situation, achieved through a process of sincere dialogue. Time is of the essence," the United Nations said. "They ... agreed that the current situation was the most tense and dangerous peace and security issue in the world today."

Meanwhile, Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force said United States, Japan and South Korea will hold two days of missile tracking drills starting today, as tensions rise in the region over North Korea's fast-developing weapons programmes.

The United States and South Korea conducted large-scale military drills last week, which the North said made the outbreak of war "an established fact".

North Korea has fired missiles over Japan as it pursues nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in defiance of UN sanctions and international condemnation. On Nov 29, it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile which it said was its most advanced yet, capable of reaching the mainland United States.

This week's exercises will be the sixth drills sharing information in tracking ballistic missiles among the three nations, the defence force said.

It did not say whether the controversial THAAD system would be involved. The installation of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea has angered China, which fears its powerful radar could look deep into China and threaten its own security.

South Korea said yesterday it would impose new unilateral sanctions on 20 institutions and a dozen individuals in North Korea, barring any financial transactions between those sanctioned and any South Koreans.

North Korea's missile test last month prompted a US warning that North Korea's leadership would be "utterly destroyed" if war were to break out. The Pentagon has mounted repeated shows of force after North Korean tests.

The United States has also pressured China and other nations to cut trade and diplomatic ties with North Korea, as part of international efforts to dry up Pyongyang's illegal cash flows that could fund its weapons programmes.