US seeks China's nod for sanctions against DPRK

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Glyn Davies, US special envoy for Democratic People's Republic of Korea policy, emphasized a need for sanctions against the DPRK during meetings with Chinese officials on Tuesday.

The envoy told reporters at his hotel that he raised the issues when meeting with Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Fu Ying and Wu Dawei, the special representative for affairs on the Korean Peninsula.

Davies stressed that peace, stability and denuclearization are common fundamental interests of China and the US in the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

Regarding food aid, which was scuttled because of the DPRK's rocket launch on April 13, Davies said the US is willing to resume negotiations as long as Pyongyang demonstrates its sincerity through actions.

Davies' visit to Beijing followed his meeting in Seoul with his counterparts from Japan and the Republic of Korea.

On Monday during those talks, he warned Pyongyang against "further miscalculation", as fears of a new nuclear test after Pyongyang's rocket launch in mid-April were aroused worldwide.

China again urged all relevant parties to further strengthen communication and create condition to ease the tension on the Korean Peninsula, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Tuesday.

China will work closely with all other relevant parties for that aim, Hong said.

According to Xinhua News Agency, Davies told reporters that it is important that the DPRK not miscalculate again or engage in any provocation.

The US obviously is in a bit of an uncertain period with the DPRK, he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, and he described Washington's Pyongyang policy as "engagement on the one hand, pressure on the other".

Davies warned that another nuclear test would result in "swift and sure" punishment at the UN Security Council, according to Xinhua.

The DPRK said the launch in April was to mark the hundredth birthday of its founding father Kim Il-sung.

The failed launch led to the collapse of a food aid deal between Pyongyang and Washington under which the DPRK promised to refrain from nuclear and missile tests. Davies expressed Washington's disappointment about Pyongyang's decision to launch the rocket.

It sent a "signal that they can't be trusted to follow through on their own undertakings and their own promises," he was quoted by the AP as saying, adding that the US was no longer interested in words and wants to see actions from the DPRK.

Washington hopes that China can contribute more to solve the issue on the Korean Peninsula, but at the same time, it expects China will do what the US wants it to do, which is impossible, Wang Fan, a professor from China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing said. US policies toward the DPRK will not change soon, Wang added.

Questions:

1. What did Glyn Davies emphasise a need for on Tuesday?

2. What did the DPRK claim the rocket launch in mid-April was for?

3. What did the failed launch result in?

Answers:

1. Sanctions against the DPRK.

2. To mark the hundredth birthday of its founding father Kim Il-sung.

3. The collapse of a food aid deal between Pyongyang and Washington.

About the broadcaster:

Emily Cheng is an editor at China Daily. She was born in Sydney, Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in Media, English Literature and Politics. She has worked in the media industry since starting university and this is the third time she has settled abroad - she interned with a magazine in Hong Kong 2007 and studied at the University of Leeds in 2009.