Take responsibility on Korean Peninsula nuclear issue: China urges US

The Chinese statement comes as North Korea's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that the US compelled it to develop nuclear warheads

China has urged the United States to take due responsibility for the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and provide effective solutions after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) set off its most powerful nuclear blast to date on September 9, saying it had mastered the ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic missile.

"The essence of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue is the conflict between the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and the United States," Xinhua quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying saying on Monday.

Hua said that as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and a close neighbor of the DPRK, China has made unremitting efforts to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and safeguard the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.

The Chinese statement comes as DPRK's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that the US compelled it to develop nuclear warheads and the nuclear threat Washington has constantly posed to the country for decades is the engine that has pushed it to this point.

Blindly increasing the pressure and the resulting bounce-back will only make the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula "a firm knot," Hua said, calling for responsibility from all the relevant parties.

She reiterated that China will remain committed to resolving issues concerning the Peninsula through dialogue to realise long-term peace and stability.

"China strongly urges all parties to speak and act cautiously with the larger picture in mind, avoid provoking each other and make genuine efforts to achieve denuclearisation, peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," she said, adding that simply putting sanctions on the DPRK cannot solve the issue.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said on Saturday that there should be more "creative" ways of responding to Pyongyang's activities than simply sanctions, adding that ways could be found to resume the six-party talks while condemning the DPRK's nuclear test.

The six-party talks, involving China, the DPRK, the United States, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Russia and Japan, were a multilateral mechanism aimed at solving the Korean Peninsula's nuclear issue.

The talks began in 2003 and stalled in December 2008. The DPRK quit the talks in April 2009.

"Resuming the six-party talks is difficult, but we cannot give up easily," said Hua.