US calls on China to help rein in N Korea

US President Barack Obama urged China yesterday to use its influence to rein in North Korea instead of “turning a blind eye” to its nuclear defiance, and warned of tighter sanctions if the reclusive state goes ahead with a rocket launch next month.

“North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or provocations,” a stern-faced Obama said after a tour of the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas resonant with echoes of the Cold War.

Such a launch would only lead to further isolation of impoverished North Korea, which must show sincerity if aid-for-disarmament talks are to restart, Obama told a news conference in Seoul.