Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said Saturday that China insists that the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula should be resolved through dialogue, no matter how the situation may develop.
Wang made the remarks during a phone conversation with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and noted that China has expressed severe concern over current tensions on the Korean Peninsula. He said that Beijing opposes any provocative words and actions from any party in the region and does not allow troublemaking at the doorstep of China.
China urges all the relevant parties to stay calm and restrained and help ease the tensions, Wang said.
The call came after an earlier message from North Korea that foreign embassies should consider the possibility of evacuation if tensions flare up.
The diplomatic missions of Russia, Britain, Germany and Sweden all confirmed that North Korea on Friday advised them to pull their embassy staff out in case of war breaking out in the region.
The German foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday that its embassy in the North would continue working for the time being. "The security of the German embassy and its exposure to danger are continually being evaluated," it said, according to AFP. "For now, the embassy can continue working."
Bulgaria said the heads of EU missions would meet to hammer out a common position.
South Korea's Yonhap News Agency quoted a government official as saying diplomats were disregarding the suggestion they might leave the country.
"We don't believe there's any foreign mission about to leave Pyongyang," the unidentified official was quoted as saying. "Most foreign governments view the North Korean message as a way of ratcheting up tension on the Korean Peninsula."
The warning to embassies is another example of Pyongyang's practice of its brinkmanship strategy, which is aimed at forcing concessions from the US and the international community following heightened pressure and sanctions over North Korea's nuclear test, Cai Jian, deputy director of the Center for Korean Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times.
"North Korea also wants to use such rhetoric to divert international attention from its recent decision to restart the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which is actually a more serious matter than the warnings of war because Pyongyang would be able to further bolster its nuclear capacity under this plan," he noted.
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