The US has stepped up its efforts to find a way out of the diplomatic impasse over North Korea, with President Barack Obama speaking to President Hu Jintao of China and Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, hosting her opposite numbers from South Korea and Japan.
The moves come at a time when Washington and its allies in Seoul and Tokyo have been at odds with Beijing over how to handle North Korea’s recent announcement of a new nuclear facility and its shelling of a South Korean island.
In a news release on Monday, the White House said Mr Obama had called Mr Hu to discuss “the priority of ensuring the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”, as well as the two countries’ “common interest in peace and stability in north-east Asia”.