Russia, China agree joint approach to N Korea!

MOSCOW: Russia and China have agreed a joint position on North Korea designed to defuse tensions around its missile programme and both want Washington to halt deployment of a missile shield in South Korea, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Moscow and Beijing had agreed on the need for a simultaneous freezing of North Korea’s missile and nuclear programme and large-scale military exercises by the United States and South Korea, the ministry said in a statement. The statement was released after President Vladimir Putin held talks with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Kremlin.

North Korea said on Tuesday it had successfully test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time, which flew a trajectory that experts said could allow a weapon to hit the US state of Alaska.

The same statement said Moscow and Beijing wanted the United States to immediately halt its deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system to South Korea, a move Washington says is necessitated by the North Korean missile threat. — Reuters