Coal imports from DPRK halted amid weapons tension

Foreign minister calls for a return to talks to reach peace on Korean Peninsula

China suspended all coal imports from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on Sunday as part of moves to prevent Pyongyang further advancing its weapons program.

Although the situation on the Korean Peninsula is getting complicated and severe, efforts to seek peace should not be abandoned, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday while meeting with Yun Byung-se, his counterpart from the Republic of Korea, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Wang reiterated China's opposition to the deployment of a United States missile defense system in the peninsula, saying the security of a nation should not be achieved at the expense of another's security.

Analysts have said China is seeking solutions to stabilize the Korean Peninsula, but that the arms race is likely to be intensified by the DPRK's nuclear program and the ROK's planned deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system.

According to a Ministry of Commerce statement on Saturday, China was to halt all coal imports from the DPRK on Sunday until the end of this year in compliance with the UN Security Council resolutions. China had imported coal from its northeast neighbor under exemptions that allowed trade for "livelihood purposes".

The import ban came days after the DPRK test-fired a new type of medium-to-long-range ballistic missile on Feb 12. The KCNA news agency reported that the top leader, Kim Jong-un, had supervised the test, which was for a weapon capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

On Friday, Wang said at the Munich Security Conference that Beijing had not given up hope for a new round of talks on the peninsula's nuclear issue.

"There are still opportunities for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks," he said, referring to the talks involving China, the US, the DPRK, the ROK, Japan and Russia. "We should work to bring the parties back to the table."

Under the Six-Party Talks framework, the DPRK agreed in 2005 to suspend its nuclear program. However, the talks collapsed after the last round in 2008, with the DPRK declaring the deal void after refusing inspections to verify compliance, which led to a series of new sanctions on Pyongyang as well as international condemnation.

Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University of China, said China's policy on the Korean Peninsula is clear and unchanged: to achieve denuclearization and peace. Beijing is working with the international community to put pressure on Pyongyang, and at the same time, has left the door for negotiations open to the DPRK, he said.

Jin Yong, deputy dean of the Communication University of China's School of International Studies, said the Six-Party Talks should be restarted, as no alternative mechanism has been found.

"The Korean Peninsula's nuclear issue is in a negative cycle. This should be ended through dialogue to prevent the arms race in Northeast Asia," he said.

anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn