In rare North Korea visit, UN presses need to 'reduce the risks of conflict'

The United Nationspolitical affairs chief told senior North Korean officialsduring a visit to Pyongyang this week that there was an "urgentneed to prevent miscalculations and open channels to reduce therisks of conflict," the world body said.

Jeffrey Feltman, the highest-level UNofficial to visitNorth Korea since 2012, met with Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Vice-Minister Pak Myong Guk, the United Nations said in astatement on Saturday after Feltman arrived back in Beijing.

Feltman emphasized the need for the full implementation ofUNSecurity Council resolutions and that the international community was committed to achieving a peaceful solution.

"He also said there can only be a diplomatic solution to thesituation, achieved through a process of sincere dialogue. Timeis of the essence," the United Nations said. "They... agreedthat the current situation was the most tense and dangerouspeace and security issue in the world today."

North Korea is pursuing nuclear and missile weapons programsin defiance of UNsanctions and international condemnation. OnNov. 29, it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile which it said was its most advanced yet, capable of reaching themainland United States.

North Korea said in a statement carried by its official KCNAnews agency that it expressed willingness to ease tension on theKorean peninsula and acknowledged the negative impact ofsanctions on humanitarian aid to North Korea.

"The United Nations expressed concerns over the heightenedsituation on the Korean peninsula and expressed willingness towork on easing tensions on the Korean peninsula in accordancewith the UNCharter, which is based on international peace andsecurity," KCNA said.

'Hopes for peacehave yet to extinguished'

KCNA said North Korean officials and Feltman agreed that hisvisit helped deepen understanding and that they agreed tocommunicate regularly.

Feltman did not speak to reporters upon arriving back fromPyongyang at Beijing airport on Saturday morning after spendingfour days in North Korea.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the situation on theKorean peninsula had entered a vicious circle of shows of strength and confrontation, and the outlook was not optimistic,China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"But at the same time it can be seen that hopes for peacehave yet to extinguished. The prospects for negotiations still exist, and the option of resorting to force cannot be accepted,"Wang was quoted as saying.

The United States and South Korea conducted large-scalemilitary drills this week, which the North said have made the outbreak of war "an established fact."

Last month's missile test prompted a U.S. warning that NorthKorea's leadership would be "utterly destroyed" if war were tobreak out. The Pentagon has mounted repeated shows of forceafter North Korean tests.

North Korea regularly threatens to destroy South Korea andthe United States and says its weapons programs are necessary tocounter U.S. aggression. The United States stations 28,500troops in the South, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.