Kerry says China assured US of N Korea talks

“China could not have been more emphatic or made it more clear that they will not allow a (North Korean) nuclear program over the long run,” Kerry said on Saturday after wrapping up a two-day visit to China.
 
Chinese leaders said they were “committed to doing their part” to make Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons program and “will not allow instability and war to break out in the region,” Kerry stated following talks with President Xi Jinping, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other Chinese officials.
 
The US official added that Washington and Beijing “put some ideas on the table” for how to convince North Korea to resume the talks. “And both of us are taking those under evaluation.”
 
Meanwhile, Wang said Beijing seeks to resume the negotiations as soon as possible under the six-nation framework, which involves North Korea, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US.
 
“China is serious on this, as shown not only in our words but in our actions,” Wang said.
 
The negotiations started in 2003 but were brought to a halt in 2009, when Pyongyang walked out in protest against a new round of UN sanctions following its nuclear tests.
 
In July 2013, North Korea said it would not relinquish its nuclear deterrence unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward Pyongyang and dissolves the US-led UN command in South Korea.
 
Established in 1953 at the end of the Korean War, the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission (UNCMAC) is meant to supervise the implementation of Korean Armistice Agreement.
 
Pyongyang has also said that it is developing a nuclear arsenal in an effort to protect itself from the US military, which occasionally deploys nuclear-powered warships and aircraft in the region which are able to carry atomic weapons.