China has discouraged the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) from escalating their war of words as a tweet from U.S. President Donald Trump infuriated Pyongyang.
Trump tweeted over the weekend that DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un "won't be around much longer", which was interpreted by Pyongyang as a declaration of war. The White House later clarified the U.S. has no intention of entering into armed conflict on the peninsula.
The escalating rhetoric came shortly after the row between the United States and the DPRK at the UN General Assembly. Trump said that the United States would have no choice but to "totally destroy" the country. DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho responded by calling Trump "mentally deranged."
"We have heard threats of war too often recently," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said at a regular news briefing.
China has repeatedly expressed the hope that both U.S. and DPRK statesmen have the wisdom to realize that resorting to the use of force is not an option for resolving the Peninsula issue, Lu added.
He went on to say that China hopes they understand that inflammatory rhetoric will only increase the risk of conflict and reduce the effectiveness of their own policy tools.
"There will be no winners should war break out on the Korean Peninsula and it will bring suffering to regional countries," Lu said.
