US asks China to press N.Korea

HONOLULU – The United States on Saturday asked China to use its influence on North Korea to prevent a new “provocation,” saying that Pyongyang must mend ties with the South if it wants to move ahead.

During first-of-a-kind talks between the Pacific powers on Asia-related issues, senior US official Kurt Campbell said he shared views with China on North Korea, which counts on Beijing as its primary source of support.

“We’ve again asked for China to take critical steps to urge North Korea to reach out and to deal responsibly and appropriately with South Korea and to refrain from any further provocations,” Campbell told reporters after the talks in Hawaii.

North Korea and China have appealed for a resumption of six-nation talks on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear program, but the United States has said that it first wants Kim Jong-Il’s regime to commit clearly to previous agreements and to lower tension with US-allied South Korea.

“We are looking for concrete progress in North-South relations and we believe that that is critical first step towards a larger engagement with North Korea,” Campbell said.

North Korea last year shelled a civilian area of the South for the first time since the 1950-53 Korean War, killing four, and was accused in the sinking of a South Korean warship that claimed the lives of 46 sailors.

China refrained from public criticism of North Korea over the tensions, to the consternation of South Korea and the United States.

But South Korean media on Friday quoted the South ‘s President Lee Myung-Bak as telling lawmakers that China has warned North Korea against further attacks.

The Hawaii talks focused largely on rising tension between China and its neighbors in the South China Sea, with the United States urging calm.