New UN resolution should be "paving stone" for political settlement of Korean Peninsula nuclear issue: Chinese envoy

The newly-adopted UN Security Council resolution on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) should be a paving stone for the political settlement of nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, said a Chinese envoy here on Wednesday.

In response to the DPRK's latest nuclear test and satellite launch, the 15-nation Council unanimously adopted a resolution early Wednesday that imposes a new raft of sanctions on the DPRK to curb the country's nuclear and missile programs.

After the Council approved the document, Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the UN, said to the Council that sanctions are not an end in themselves, and the Security Council resolutions can not fundamentally solve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

"Today's resolution should be a new starting point and a paving stone for the political settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula," said Liu.

In this regard, Liu said China urges the parties concerned to push forward with the negotiations to advance denuclearization and replace the armistice mechanism with a peace mechanism in parallel.

"While keeping the general direction of denuclearization, this approach accommodates in a balanced way main concerns of the parties involved, helps find a breaking point for the resumption of talks, and is practicable," he said.

"China is willing to work with the parties concerned to explore in-depth specific steps of putting this idea in practice and hopes that all parties concerned will work together towards this end," he added.

In a series of violations of relevant Security Council resolutions, the DPRK conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and launched a satellite on Feb. 7 which is widely believed to have used ballistic missile technology banned by previous UN sanctions. Pyongyang said it was a peaceful satellite launch.

"China has expressed its explicit opposition to these acts," said Liu. "China has always insisted on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, insisted on the maintenance of peace and stability on the peninsula, and insisted on resolving problems through a dialogue and consultations."

However, the United States and South Korea have threatened to deploy Lockheed Martin's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in the Korean Peninsula.

"China opposes the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system on the Korean Peninsula because such an action harms the strategic security interests of China and other countries of the region, goes against the goal of maintaining peace security and stability of the peninsula, and would seriously undermine the efforts of the international community to see the political solution to the question of the Korean Peninsula," said Liu.

"As a close neighbor to the Korean Peninsula and state which bears an important responsibility for the stability on the peninsula, China has always insisted on the overall goal of denuclearization of the peninsula, opposed conflicts and chaos on the peninsula, and worked to maintain the legitimate security interests of itself and other countries of the region," said Liu.

"China will continue to take a responsible approach to enhancing communication and coordination with the parties concerned and play an active and constructive role for an early realization of a lasting stability and peace of the Korean Peninsula," he added. Enditem