China and South Korea Said to Promise Tougher Sanctions if North Conducts Tests<br />By CHOE SANG-HUNAPRIL 10, 2017<br />SEOUL, South Korea — China and South Korea agreed on Monday to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea if it carries out nuclear or intercontinental ballistic missile tests,<br />a senior South Korean diplomat said, as the United States increased its pressure on the North by moving a Navy carrier strike group toward the Korean Peninsula.<br />But he said a pre-emptive strike remained only a "theoretical possibility." There have been no signs of an imminent American military action against the North, such as the<br />evacuation of tens of thousands of civilian Americans living in the South or the escalation of an alert level for South Korean and American military forces, Mr. Lee said.<br />Lee Duk-haeng, a spokesman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, said, "All issues on the Korean Peninsula must be resolved peacefully." South Korea was in close consultations with Washington, he said, and people "need not worry too much" about reports<br />that the United States might attempt a strike against the North.<br />President Trump’s order to launch missile strikes against Syria last week, coupled with a decision to send the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and several other warships back to waters near Korea, have led some South Koreans to fear<br />that a military strike against North Korea might be looming, should the country conduct another nuclear test.<br />Tillerson said that President Xi clearly understands<br />On Monday, Wu Dawei, the top Chinese envoy for international efforts to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, met with his South Korean<br />counterpart, Kim Hong-kyun, in Seoul, the South’s capital, to discuss what to do about the North’s advancing nuclear and missile programs.<br />Mr. Kim said he and Mr. Wu did not discuss a possible United States military strike against North Korea.
