US and Chinese officials discuss military cooperation between Russia and North Korea

(Patria) - A senior US official for North Korea held a video call this week with the Chinese envoy for Korean Peninsula affairs, during which they discussed the growing military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, the State Department said on Friday, Reuters reported.

The senior US official for North Korea, Jung Pak, and her Chinese counterpart, Liu Xiaoming, also addressed "all destabilizing and escalating behavior by North Korea," the statement said. It stated that the growing military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is "a violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions."

A statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that "it is in the common interest of the region and the international community to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and promote the process of political resolution..." It stated that "the relevant parties should... address each other's concerns in a balanced manner through meaningful dialogue" and that China and the United States agreed to maintain contact on the matter.

The Chinese statement does not mention Russia, which has long been a party to UN sanctions against North Korea over its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs, but has strengthened ties with Pyongyang since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Washington has accused North Korea of supplying Russia with artillery shells and missiles for the war in Ukraine. Moscow and Pyongyang deny this, but have pledged to deepen military relations.

The US statement said the conversation with China followed a meeting on February 16 between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in which they "affirmed the importance of continued communication on (North Korea) issues at all levels."

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that President Vladimir Putin had gifted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a Russian Aurus limousine. Washington on Friday imposed sanctions on the car manufacturer as part of a comprehensive round of sanctions against Russia to mark the second anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions and trade restrictions also target Chinese companies that the US said are aiding Russia's war effort.

China-US relations have shown signs of improvement in recent months with steps to re-establish communication channels after ties fell to their lowest level in decades. But many points of friction remain, including US sanctions on China over security and human rights issues. Wang told Blinken they should be lifted.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, called the latest sanctions on Chinese firms "a typical act of economic coercion, unilateralism, and bullying."

The top US arms control official, Bonnie Jenkins, said on Thursday that Washington wants more talks with China on strategic stability and crisis management, and that a more aggressive North Korea is not in Beijing's interest. She said she believes North Korea, which borders China, wants to acquire fighter jets, surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles, equipment or materials for producing ballistic missiles, and other advanced technologies from its cooperation with Russia.