China says US must work together on solution to N. Korea

TIL Desk/World/Beijing-China called on the US to shoulder more responsibility in tackling North Korea’s rogue nuclear programme today, slapping down claims by President Donald Trump that Beijing could bring the isolated state to heel.

North Korea defied the world last week with a missile test and is suspected of orchestrating the stunning assassination a day later of supreme leader Kim Jong-Un’s half-brother in Malaysia, provocative acts that followed a nuclear test in September.

Beijing, often the target of US criticism for not doing enough to rein in its irascible neighbour, hit out at Trump’s suggestion in an interview on Thursday that China could rein in North Korea “very easily” if it wanted to.

“The crux of the Korean nuclear issue lies with the differences between the DPRK and the United States,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters Friday at a regular press briefing.