Sydney, Mar 30 (ANI): Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has urged officers of China's main defence academy that the world is looking towards Beijing to use its influence to quash the aggression of North Korea.
Rudd said during his speech this week to China's National Defence University that North Korea's nuclear program poses a serious threat to China's relations with its neighbours, News.com.au reports.
The speech was made two days before North Korea announced that it had formally entered into a state of war with South Korea, the paper said.
In the latest in a string of pronouncements from Pyongyang and tough warnings from Seoul and Washington, a government statement from North Korea said as of now, inter-Korea relations enter a state of war and all matters between the two Koreas will be handled according to wartime protocol.
North Korea also said rocket forces are ready to settle US accounts with troops on standby to invade mainland US, South Korea, Guam and Hawaii, the paper reported.
The White House said it took the new warning seriously but added that Pyongyang's threats were following a familiar pattern.
According to reports in the Australian paper, Rudd's Beijing address had coincided with the United States' confirmation on Thursday that it had sent two B-2 stealth bombers, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, to drop munitions on a target range on a South Korean island.
Rudd also told his audience of officers that the diplomatic efforts of all nations but China had failed to persuade North Korea against its shows of aggression, the paper added.
But while China had gone to considerable lengths to try to change North Korea's behaviour, Pyongyang had rewarded it by launching its third underground test during China's Spring Festival holiday, the paper concluded. (ANI)
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