China says North Korea nuclear issue cannot be solved ‘overnight’

China says it hopes the US and North Korea will keep talking after President Donald Trump cut short his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam without reaching an agreement.

China is Pyongyang's sole major ally and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in Beijing Thursday that he had yet to hear what Trump or the North Korean leader had to say about the meeting.

“But I have always hoped that everyone can realize that the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula has been going on for many years, and that solving this problem is definitely not something that can be achieved overnight,” Lu said.

He said the very fact that the nuclear talks have been held all these years could demonstrate that “it is not a very easy process.”

PressTV-US 'dealmaker in chief' walks away from Kim summit

In an unexpected turn of events, the US president will end denuclearization talks with the North Korea leader much earlier than excepted.

The North’s leader traveled across China to his second meeting with Trump, but the summit ended prematurely on Thursday after the US president cut it short without sealing any deal or holding a joint press conference with Kim.

Earlier on Thursday, both leaders had expressed cautious optimism on reaching an agreement and urged patience.

Both Trump and Kim have tried to show diplomatic bromance since their first meeting in June last year, before which they had exchanged acrimonious barbs, calling each other names and threatening military action against their countries.

In their first meeting, Trump and Kim broadly agreed to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but while North Korea took several measures to show goodwill, the US refused to offer sanctions relief.

Pyongyang says the agreement reached in June last year includes the entire Korean Peninsula and should entail the removal of the US nuclear umbrella over South Korea and the pullout of American forces from the region.

Trump stressed on Thursday that the issue of troop withdrawal from South Korea was not “on the table”.

The US has also said it will not remove its sanctions unless a full denuclearization of the North is confirmed.

Lu reiterated Beijing's call for Washington and Pyongyang to “take care of each other's legitimate concerns”, expressing hope that both sides could continue “to maintain a dialogue.”

During the past year, Kim has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping four times, most recently in January, to brief one another before and after the summit with Trump.

However, it is not yet clear whether Xi is visited by Kim when he takes the train back across China to return home through a tightly-guarded secret route.

PressTV-N Korean leader 'concerned about deadlock’ in US talks

North Korea’s leader says he is concerned about a deadlock in Washington-Pyongyang talks over the latter’s denuclearization.

On Thursday, North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Ri Kil-song met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing, saying it was “the right time” to further bilateral relations.

“We can discuss how to take the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the DPRK as an opportunity to promote the healthy and smooth development of bilateral relations,” he added, using the acronym for the North's official name.

Ri said the aim of the visit was to “put into practice the important consensus reached during the meetings” between Xi and Kim “and to further strengthen communication and exchanges between the two foreign ministries.”

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