Let China rein in North Korea, says Duterte

Female North Korean soldiers march during a mass military parade on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang to mark the 60th anniversary of the Korean War armistice on, July 27, 2013. Top officials of the Philippines and North Korea held a meeting in Pyongyang more than a week ago, a rare occasion where the two countries agreed to further bilateral ties and discussed the security situation in the tense Korean Peninsula. AP Photo/David Guttenfelder

President Duterte called for caution in handling the tension with North Korea and said China, which has the bigger arsenal, could help keep Pyongyang under control.

“So my reaction is, kindly use your patience there and China, which has the bigger weapon, should rein it in,” Mr. Duterte told reporters after his meeting with Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah in Malacañang.

In pushing for caution, Mr. Duterte said there would be no winners should the tension escalate into a nuclear war.

“I would say that I would caution everybody. If it’s happening far from us, if there’s a nuclear war here, a holocaust, this will become an arid land, nobody will grow and everybody dies of cancer,” he said.

The tension in the Korean peninsula rose following North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests, which did not sit well with Washington.