Germany tries to defuse N.Korea tensions, praises China

Germany on Wednesday vowed to do all it could to defuse tensions between the United States and North Korea, lauding China’s role in pressuring North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to delay plans to fire missiles towards the U.S. territory of Guam.

But Berlin played down the idea that Germany could be a significant mediator between Pyongyang and Washington, after hosting talks between the two a decade ago.

“There is no military solution for this conflict, it must be worked out via negotiations,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a YouTube interview, criticizing what she called escalating rhetoric by “all sides”.

“We can avoid a catastrophe and we must do everything possible to do that. I am doing everything I can at least.”

Fears of a military confrontation between the United States and North Korean flared last week after a series of increasingly sharp verbal salvos between U.S. President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader.

 

Read More: Germany tries to defuse N.Korea tensions, praises China