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Russia, China agree joint approach to North Korea, slam US over missile shield
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping walk past honour guards during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, July 4, 2017. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin
04/07/2017
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and China have agreed a joint position on North Korea designed to defuse tensions around its missile program 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 program 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 U.S. 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.
(Reporting by Denis Dyomkin/Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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