Foreign Ministry calls for avoiding 'any move' on the DPRK issue that would increase tension

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea launches a long range rocket launched into the air in this file still image taken from KRT video footage, released by Yonhap on February 7, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Beijing has said any unilateral sanctions must not hurt China's interests after Washington imposed additional sanctions on Pyongyang because of its recent nuclear test and rocket launch.

China always opposes any unilateral sanctions and "any move to increase tensions on the Korean Peninsula is opposed", Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in Beijing on Thursday.

US President Barack Obama imposed the new sanctions on Wednesday.

His executive order freezes any property in the United States of the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and prohibits exports of goods from the US to the DPRK, Reuters reported.

"All the relevant parties, it is hoped, will exercise restraint, remain calm and avoid any provocative words or actions," Lu added.

The Republic of Korea Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that the country's top envoy for the stalled Six-Party Talks will visit China on Friday to discuss issues regarding the DPRK.

Meanwhile, the ROK and the US are conducting joint military drills, code-named Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, from March 7 until April 30, reported to be the largest ever.

Pyongyang said on Wednesday that Washington and Seoul are pushing the situation to the point of explosion through the provocation posed by the drills.

A statement issued on Wednesday by the DPRK through the official Korean Central News Agency said the drills amount to "a provocation to the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK and an open declaration of a war against it".

Shi Yongming, an Asia-Pacific studies researcher at the China Institute of International Relations, said Washington and Seoul "have paid too much attention to sanctions, and they proposed few offerings for politically settling the nuclear issue".

Zhang Liangui, an expert in Korean studies at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said Washington and Seoul "are now determined to push Pyongyang to the brink (with all their measures) and finish the whole issue once and for all".

The unilateral sanctions imposed by the US, the ROK and Japan are coordinated with one another, Zhang added.

Kim Hong-kyun, chief ROK envoy for the six-way dialogue to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, will visit China on Friday to meet with Wu Dawei, China's special representative on Korean Peninsula affairs, ROK Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuk told a news briefing.

It will be the first meeting between them since Kim was named in late February as special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs to represent Seoul at the Six-Party Talks.

The talks, which involve the DPRK, China, the ROK, the US, Russia and Japan, have been stalled since 2008.