BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- China will continue to play a constructive role in helping promote political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday.
"As an old Chinese saying goes, we must tend to the root cause when curing a disease or remedying a mistake," said Wang, noting that the root cause for the Korean Peninsula issue is that the external security threats facing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have remained unaddressed and its legitimate security concerns unresolved for too long.
"To solve the Korean Peninsula issue, all relevant parties should work toward the same direction," Wang told a press conference on the sidelines of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress.
The DPRK has taken a series of positive measures aimed at promoting dialogue since 2018, but it has not received due returns, which has worsened the mutual trust between the DPRK and the United States, making proposals of dialogue empty slogans, he said.
"We have noticed that the U.S. side has recently stated that it has no hostile intent toward the DPRK and is willing to solve the issue through diplomatic means, which is worthy of affirmation," Wang said.
He called on the United States to take concrete measures to address the DPRK's legitimate security concerns, build basic mutual trust with the DPRK and push forward the political settlement process of the Korean Peninsula issue. ■
