FM urges prudent NK action

China on Wednesday called the situation on the Korean Peninsula "sensitive" and urged all concerned parties to "prudently and properly" handle the North Korean nuclear issue, as the US and its allies prepare to impose powerful sanctions. Analysts said tough sanctions on North Korea will only push Pyongyang further in pursuit of nuclear weaponry, aggravating the dangerous situation in the Korean Peninsula, and this may even lead to full-scale conflict. In response to mounting calls for tougher sanctions on Pyongyang, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said Wednesday that China and South Korea have maintained close communication on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. Stressing that the current situation on the Korean Peninsula "is very sensitive," Hong said China hopes the "countries concerned would bear in mind the big picture of maintaining regional peace and stability and handle relevant issues prudently and properly." South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday vowed to slap the most powerful sanctions on North Korea. Park said her government will make every diplomatic effort to make North Korea feel "bone-numbing" pain through the UN, the Yonhap News Agency reported. The US House of Representatives passed legislation late Tuesday to broaden sanctions on North Korea, including sanctions on those engaging in transactions with North Korea related to weapons of mass destruction, arms, money laundering, counterfeiting and human rights abuses. The sanctions come a week after North Korea claimed it had successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb. Observers said that the sanctions from the US and its allies cannot solve the North Korean nuclear issue, and proper sanctions should be imposed through the Six-Party Talks or by a UN Security Council meeting. Lü Chao, a professor with Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that given the sparse trade ties between North Korea and the US or its allies, economic sanctions will not achieve the expected effect. "A possible consequence of their sanctions is further enraging North Korea. With the participation of the US and Japan, military force on the Peninsula will be unbalanced which will ultimately make the already tightened tensions escalate into full-blown conflict," Lü said. Tension on the Peninsula rose in the past week, as starting Friday, both Koreas resumed blaring propaganda messages against each other along the border. Consider wider issues South Korea planned to discuss with the US the deployment of an advanced US missile defense system, dubbed the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, after the US flew a B-52 strategic bomber over South Korea. Hong said China has been consistent and clear on the anti-missile issue. "A country should consider other countries' safety and interests as well as the peace and stability of the whole region when seeking its own safety," he said. In response, North Korea sent a drone across the border with South Korea on Wednesday which returned after dozens of warning shots from the South. North Korea deserved to be sanctioned for violations of UN resolutions in developing nuclear weapons, but it should be done through negotiations of all concerned parties, Liu Jiangyong, a professor with the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times. "What the US and its allies are doing is 'violent multilateralism,' but proper sanctions should be imposed through 'peaceful multilateralism' - the Six-Party Talks and UN meetings - to ensure stability on the Korean Peninsula," Liu further noted. Pressure tactics "The US has tried to take advantage of pressure tactics to bring its allies - South Korea and Japan - more closely together, in a bid to counter Chinese and Russian influence in Northeast Asia in the long-term," Gao Fei, a professor with the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times. To achieve its purpose, the nuclear envoys of the US, South Korea and Japan were scheduled to meet in Seoul on Wednesday to coordinate their responses in punishing North Korea. In the meantime, Western media and politicians have shifted the blame for North Korea's nuclear test to China for failing to halt it, claiming that China should be responsible for the escalating crisis on the Peninsula. Chinese experts said that these comments were "unreasonable and absurd." They believe the joint military drills of the US and South Korea along the borders between North and South Korea are the main reason Pyongyang feels constantly threatened.