Calm urged after missile launched

All relevant parties "should exercise restraint and not take any actions that will aggravate regional tensions", Beijing said on Wednesday, following a missile launch by Pyongyang earlier in the day.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea test-fired a ballistic missile into eastern waters, Xinhua News Agency reported.

In response, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news conference in Beijing that China has taken notice of the reports.

Hua referred to the clear requirements made by the United Nations Security Council's previous resolutions on the DPRK using ballistic missile technologies for missile launches.

An ultimate settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue requires "addressing both the symptoms and the root causes", and the reasonable concerns of all parties should be addressed in a comprehensive and balanced approach, the spokeswoman said.

In addition, China urges all relevant parties to attach importance to China's efforts in pushing for the resumption of the Six-Party talks on the nuclear issue, Hua said.

The ballistic missile was fired at about 6:42 am local time from Sinpo in North Hamgyeong province, in northeastern DPRK, and it flew about 60 kilometers into its eastern waters, an official with the Republic of Korea's defense ministry told Xinhua.

The test-firing comes in the wake of a slew of joint military drills conducted by the ROK and the United States.

Wang Junsheng, a researcher on Asia-Pacific studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that there has been a vicious cycle between Pyongyang and Washington in recent years.

"Beijing's recent Dual-Suspension proposal, which calls for suspending both the DPRK's nuclear and missile activities, and the large-scale drills by the US and the ROK, is a fair one and it helps nurture an ideal climate for dialogue among the parties," Wang said.

Whether the proposal will be successful depends on the sincerity of the relevant parties for solving the problems, Wang added.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn