US urges China, Russia to restrain North Korea

Washington has urged Russia and China to use their influence on North Korea to restrain the East Asian country as tensions continue to escalate on the Korean Peninsula.

The request came after Pyongyang announced that it is “readjusting and restarting” all facilities at the country’s main Yongbyon nuclear complex.

In response to the announcement, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday that “We have in the past and are now urging China to use that influence to try to affect North Korean behavior. That is also true of our (conversations) with the Russians.”

Earlier on Tuesday, North Korea’s official KCNA agency noted that, a uranium enrichment facility and five MW Yongbyon reactors, which were closed in 2007 as part of an international nuclear disarmament deal, are to be put into operation again.

On the same day, the US said that it would defend itself and its regional allies, namely South Korea and Japan against North Korea.

“Let me be perfectly clear here today. The United States will defend and protect ourselves and our treaty ally, the Republic of Korea,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said.

Also on Tuesday, Washington said that it has deployed second guided-missile destroyer USS John McCain in the Pacific to waters off the Korean Peninsula.

Pentagon spokesman George Little said the USS Decatur, another destroyer, has also been deployed in the western Pacific “to perform a missile defense mission as assigned by our combatant commander.”

“They (the McCain and the Decatur) will be poised to respond to any missile threats to our allies or our territory,” he added.

On Sunday, Washington sent F-22 stealth fighter jets to South Korea as part of military exercises with the Southeast Asian country.

Last week, North Korea said that its military should be prepared to attack “all US military bases in the Asia-Pacific region, including the US mainland, Hawaii, and Guam” and South Korea.