China urges Koreas to get along, as North warns of 'crisis' over US-South Korea military drills
China's ambassador to Seoul on Wednesday urged the two Koreas to get along better with each other, as Pyongyang again resorted to sabre-rattling amid ongoing US-South Korea military drills.
Xing Haiming made the remarks at a forum marking the 29th anniversary of the establishment of relations between China and South Korea, on the same day that top North Korean official Kim Yong-chol warned of a "serious security crisis" if the joint military exercises continue.
"Inter-Korean relations should be improved. After all, North Korea and South Korea are of the same Korean people and we just hope they make concerted efforts to get along well with each other," Xing told journalists. "It would be a good thing for them to do a lot of things that may help bring about peace and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula."
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A live-firing exercise involving self-propelled howitzers is seen at a US Army range in Pocheon, South Korea, in 2012. Photo: AFP
At a separate congratulatory speech at the forum, Xing said China would continue its "constructive roles" to help ensure peace on the Korean peninsula, adding that Beijing supported Seoul's efforts to improve ties with Pyongyang.
"Together with South Korea, we will continue pursuing denuclearisation ... and enduring peace on the Korean peninsula", he said.
He repeated Beijing's proposal for "parallel progress on two tracks", under which the denuclearisation of the North should be realised in phases alongside progress being made in talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
Beijing has also proposed a "double stoppage" - or tying the suspension of North Korea's missile and nuclear tests to a halt of US-South Korea military drills, which are seen by Pyongyang as aggressive preparations for war.
Xing's immediate predecessor, Qiu Guohong, said at the same forum that China, unlike the US, would not compel the South to pick sides amid intensifying rivalry between the two superpowers.
Qiu said both China and South Korea should make sure that their relations with the US do not threaten bilateral ties.
"We don't believe South Korea will easily take sides in the face of the complicated strategic rivalry between China and the US. Rather, it will make decisions on its own that are most beneficial to its own national interests", Qiu said.
He said South Korea was in an "awkward position", and predicted that Washington would urge Seoul to join in with its China "containment" efforts.
"China, like in the past, will not demand the South pick sides between China and the US. Neither will it obstruct the normal development of US-South Korea ties. South Korean friends may rest assured", he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Kim Yong-chol, a general and politician who played a leading role during historic summits between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and former US President Donald Trump, criticised South Korea and the US for responding to Pyongyang's goodwill with "hostile acts".
The South must be made to "clearly understand how dearly they have to pay" for choosing their alliance with Washington over peace between the Koreas, he said in the statement carried by state news agency KCNA.
"We will make them realise by the minute what a dangerous choice they made and what a serious security crisis they will face because of their wrong choice," he said.
The statement came a day after Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong-un, warned Seoul and Washington over the annual joint military drills as the North refused to answer routine calls on recently restored inter-Korean hotlines.
US President Joe Biden has said it is up to Pyongyang to respond to his pledge to seek "practical" ways to engage.
North Korea has also said it is open to diplomacy, but that the US and South Korea have clung to hostile policies, such as continuing to hold regular military drills.
Pyongyang may be using sharp rhetoric to boost its leverage in future talks, wring concessions from South Korea, or distract from domestic economic crises, according to analysts.
"The Kim regime is shifting blame for its struggles to restart the economy after a long, self-imposed pandemic lockdown," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha University in Seoul.
"Pyongyang is also trying to pressure South Korean presidential candidates to express differences with US policy on sanctions and denuclearisation."
Professor Kim Dong-yub at Kyungnam University in Seoul said Pyongyang is likely to stop short of conducting provocative military actions such as new missile tests.
However, he said the regime may dismiss government agents tasked with exchanges with the South and shred an agreement signed with Seoul on lowering military tensions.
Kim Yo-jong issued a warning to this effect in March when she attacked the South for going ahead with its springtime joint military exercises with the US.
Additional reporting by Reuters
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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