RoK, China defense officials to discuss DPRK test: Yonhap
Defence officials from the Republic of Korea (RoK) and China will meet on January 15 to discuss the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) latest nuclear test, the Yonhap news agency reported, after the RoK and the United States put pressure on China to rein in its neighbor.
The DPRK's nuclear test last week angered both China and the United States and again raised questions about what can be done to stop its development of nuclear weapons.
Senior defense officials of the RoK and China will meet in Seoul in an annual forum and discuss a joint response to the test. A RoK Defence Ministry official could not immediately confirm the report.
DPRK said last week it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, but the United States and experts questioned the claim saying the recorded blast was too small for it to have been such a device.
The RoK President Park Geun-hye called on China on January 13 to use its influence over DPRK to press it to end its nuclear program, adding it could use its permanent seat on the UN Security Council to help draw up effective sanctions.
"I believe the Chinese government will not allow the situation on the Korean peninsula to deteriorate further," Park told a news conference.
China is the DPRK's main ally and trade partner but it opposes its bombs, while China's ties with US ally RoK have grown closer in recent years.
The US special envoy for the DPRK, Sung Kim, met his RoK and Japanese counterparts in Seoul on January 13 and said they had agreed that a "meaningful" new sanctions resolution was needed from the Security Council.
"I hope the Chinese authorities agree with us that we simply cannot take a business as usual approach to this latest provocation," he said.