US Secretary of State John Kerry heads to Beijing on Saturday seeking China’s help to rein in a belligerent North Korea and provide a foundation for Seoul to lower soaring tensions with Pyongyang.
Kerry was due to fly to the Chinese capital from South Korea where he held talks on Friday with President Park Geun-Hye and offered public US support to her plans for initiating some trust-building with the North.
The Korean Peninsula has been engulfed by escalating military tensions and dire threats of nuclear war ever since North Korea conducted a rocket test last December and a nuclear test in February.
Despite intelligence reports that the North has prepared what would be a highly-provocative, medium-range missile launch, Park has in recent days made some conciliatory gestures to the regime in Pyongyang.
In a meeting with her ruling party officials on Friday, Park said that the South should meet with the North and “listen to what North Korea thinks”.
While Kerry berated Pyongyang’s “unacceptable” rhetoric and warned that any missile launch would be a “huge mistake,” he also took pains to stress US backing for Park’s initiative.
“President Park was elected with a different vision for the possibilities of peace and we honour that vision ... and we hope that vision is the one that will actually take hold here,” he said.
