N. Korean nuclear program a ‘major challenge’: Kerry

United States Secretary of State John Kerry has failed to secure China’s support for tougher sanctions against North Korea in the wake of its fourth nuclear bomb test earlier this month.

Both Mr. Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said after more than four hours of meetings they would work together at the United Nations on a resolution, but appeared divided over how much to press Pyongyang.

This could have unwanted consequences for China, including a Korean peninsula that is strongly allied with the United States and a flood of refugees from North Korea into China. “It would cause China to lose all flexibility in handling North Korea and would turn it to a permanently hostile state sitting on the Chinese border”.

Tong Zhao, an associate at Carnegie’s Nuclear Policy Programme at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Centre for Global Policy, said China did not see the USA proposal as a viable solution.

Kang Jun-young, a professor of political science at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said the government apparently intends to deliver a message to China that it should swiftly rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions if it does not want THAAD to be deployed on the peninsula.

Kerry also told Wang that the two countries had to make progress on “concerns and activities in the South China Sea”.

In Beijing on Thursday, Mr Kerry called on China to halt its rapid programme of land reclamation and construction of airstrips, which has alarmed the region’s smaller neighbours.

China is the last leg of Kerry’s three-nation tour of Asia that also included stops in Laos and Cambodia.

China’s response, however, has been to dismiss the criticisms out of hand, and double down on its usual response to North Korea’s violations of UN Resolutions: namely, to urge all parties to exercise restraint and return to dialogue via the Six-Party Talks.

China insists that any disputes should be handled bilaterally.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wraps up an eight-day diplomatic mission in Beijing. His visits to Vientiane and Phnom Penh come ahead of a summit with the leaders of all 10 ASEAN nations that President Barack Obama will host next month in California.

Tensions have been especially high since Beijing transformed seven disputed reefs into islands, where it is now constructing runways and facilities that rival claimants say can be used militarily.

In this photo provided by the South Korean West Sea Fisheries Management Service, a Chinese fishing boat, center, is capsized in the water off Gageo Island, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. Recent developments include China’s movement of an oil rig back into an area disputed with Vietnam, and warnings against a Philippines overflight.