DPRK declares armistice void(2)

UN meeting

Meanwhile, Russia, which holds the presidency of the 15-nation UN Security Council this month, was scheduled to chair the consultations regarding further responses to the DPRK's nuclear test, the UN media office announced.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed on Tuesday that China has maintained close communication on the issue with relevant parties on occasions including the UN Security Council.

China supports an appropriate UN Security Council response that shows its opposition to the DPRK's nuclear test, said Hua, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.

"The Security Council's response should be prudent and moderate, and should avoid further escalation,'' Hua said. The response should also safeguard peace and stability on the peninsula and Northeast Asia, she said.

Shi, from the CIIR, said the chance of dialogue was disappearing.

"The Korean Peninsula has been dragged into a malicious cycle of sanctions and confrontation", but dialogue is the best way out, Shi said.

Moscow is ready to back UN Security Council sanctions on the DPRK if they focus solely on Pyongyang's nuclear and rocket programs, a senior Russian diplomat said on Tuesday.

"It will be acceptable to us if the restrictive measures do not go beyond the boundaries of missile and nuclear issues" linked to the DPRK, Interfax News Agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as saying.

ROK Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young told reporters in Seoul that "considerable progress" had been made on the wording of a resolution, but added that "no full agreement has been reached yet".

Russian UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin, also the UN Security Council president for March, said earlier on Monday that the US had not yet circulated a draft text, but one was expected soon.