China Please Continue North Korea-South Korea Dialogue To Prevent Confrontation

Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a press conference on "China's diplomatic policy and foreign relations" in Beijing, China on Thursday (7/3/2024). (ANTARA/Desca Lidya Natalia)

JAKARTA - The Chinese government hopes that North Korea can continue dialogue with South Korea to prevent further confrontations on the Korean peninsula.

"It is very important to stop the military attack (determinance) from getting out of confrontation. The trick is to continue dialogue and negotiations, address the security concerns of all parties, especially North Korea and encourage a political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue," Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a news conference on "Chinese diplomacy policy and foreign relations" in Beijing, China reported by ANTARA, Thursday, March 7.

China's position, in the Korean Peninsula issue, according to Wang Yi, is consistent and focused on efforts to achieve peace and long-term stability in the Korean Peninsular region.

"Currently, the situation on the Korean Peninsula is becoming increasingly tense, and we don't want this. The world is quite chaotic and there should be no additional war on the Korean Peninsula," added Wang Yi.

Wang Yi said anyone who wants to take advantage of the issue of the Korean Peninsula to restore confrontations like during the Cold War must assume historical responsibility and anyone who wants to undermine regional peace and stability will suffer enormous consequences.

"The root of the protracted Korean Peninsula problem is that the remains of the Cold War still exist, there has never been a peace mechanism built and there is no fundamental solution to the security issue," said Wang Yi.

Foreign Minister Wang said the solutions to the Korean Peninsula were already available, namely the idea of a "dual track progress" and the principle of "phased and synchronized" proposed by China.

Most recently, North Korea is known to have fired about 200 artillery shells into the waters off its west coast in January 2024. This caused the South Korean government to ask residents of Baengnyeong Island and Yeonpyeong Island to evacuate.

North Korea's action was the latest attack after North Korea canceled its 2018 inter-Korean military agreement in November.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected artillery fire from Tanjung Jangsan and Tanjung Deungsan, both in the southwest coast of North Korea, from 09.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. local time.

The Artillery fell into the maritime buffer zone north of the Northern Boundary Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border with the Yellow Sea.

The buffer zone is under an inter-Korean military agreement signed on September 19, 2018 to ease tensions at the border.

The South Korean military plans to hold shooting exercises on the northwestern border islands in the Yellow Sea in response to North Korea's artillery fire, according to officials.

Last November, North Korea unilaterally canceled the 2018 agreement after Seoul suspended part of the deal in protest over the successful launch of North Korea's military spy satellite.