China agrees UN action to end North Korea crisis

China agreed on Thursday that the UN should take more action against North Korea after its latest nuclear test, while also pushing for dialogue to help resolve the standoff. North Korea, which is pursuing its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of international condemnation, said it would respond to any new UN sanctions and US pressure with “powerful counter measures,” accusing the United States of aiming for war. The US wants the UN Security Council to impose an oil embargo on North Korea, ban its exports of textiles and the hiring of North Korean labourers abroad, and to subject leader Kim Jong Un to an asset freeze and travel ban, according to a draft resolution. Pressure from Washington has ratcheted up since North Korea conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test on Sunday. That test, along with a series of missile launches, showed it was close to achieving its goal of developing a powerful nuclear weapon that could reach the US. China is by far North Korea’s biggest trading partner, accounting for 92% of two-way trade last year. US President Donald Trump has urged China to do more to rein in its neighbour, which was typically defiant on Thursday. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in spoke at the regional meeting in Vladivostok and agreed to try to persuade China and Russia to cut off oil to North Korea as much as possible, according to South Korean officials. Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the meeting he thought the North Korea crisis would not escalate into nuclear war, predicting that common sense would prevail.THAAD deploymentAmid the rising tension, South Korea installed the four remaining launchers of a US anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system on a former golf course in Seoul, early on Thursday. Two launchers had already been deployed. More than 30 people were hurt when about 8,000 police broke up a blockade near the site by about 300 villagers and members of civic groups opposed to the THAAD deployment, fire officials said. The deployment has drawn strong objections from China, which believes the system’s radar could be used to look deeply into its territory.