Sanctions against North Korea means to resume talks on Korean Peninsula denuclearization - Chinese FM

BEIJING, January 27. /TASS/. International sanctions against North Korea should not be the goal in itself but rather serve as means of resuming negotiations on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday at a joint press conference with US State Secretary John Kerry. "Sanctions do not represent the end (of international efforts) and its goal. The goal is to maintain peace and stability in the region, continue negotiations and complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Wang said. North Korea announced on January 6 that it had successfully conducted a hydrogen bomb test. The country’s government said in a statement circulated by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) the test had had "no adverse impacts on the environmental situation." Now, according to the statement, North Korea "possesses the strongest deterrent forces." North Korea previously conducted three nuclear tests: in 2006, in 2009 and in 2013. Following these tests, the United Nations Security Council imposed various sanctions on Pyongyang. In the past two years, North Korea refrained from nuclear tests limiting itself to ballistic missile launches as a response to the US-South Korea large-scale military drills. Read more