A top United Nations (UN) official told senior North Korean figures there was an \u201curgent need\u201d to keep channels open to avoid the risk of war, the organisation says.
\nThe statement follows a visit to Pyongyang by Jeffrey Feltman, the highest-level trip by a UN official to the isolated nation in six years.
\nNorth Korea says it has agreed to regular communication with the UN.
\nTensions over the North\u2019s weapons programme were raised further after a fresh ballistic missile test last week.
\nNorth Korea said it was its most advanced missile yet, capable of reaching the continental US.
\nThe test was the latest in a series of nuclear and missile tests conducted in defiance of UN sanctions.
\nSouth Korea and the US have meanwhile been carrying out large-scale military drills in a show of force.
\nThe UN continues to operate in North Korea, with programmes providing food, agricultural and health aid but the last visit by a senior official was back in 2011.
\n\u201cNoting the urgent need to prevent miscalculations and open channels to reduce the risks of conflict, Feltman underlined that the international community, alarmed by escalating tensions, is committed to the achievement of a peaceful solution,\u201d a statement says.
\nNorth Korean state media earlier said current tensions were \u201centirely ascribable to the US hostile policy\u201d.
\nBut in its reporting of Feltman\u2019s trip, KCNA also said both sides agreed on \u201ccommunication through visits at different levels on a regular basis in the future\u201d.
\nBefore leaving for Pyongyang, Feltman held talks in China, North Korea\u2019s historic ally and main trading partner.
\nDespite calls from other world leaders for restraint, this year has seen US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hurl insults at each other, both at one time saying the other was mad.
\nUS Secretary of State Rex Tillerson though has said that lines of communication are open between the two sides.
\nNorth Korea argues nuclear capabilities are its only deterrent against an outside world seeking to destroy it.\u2014BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A top United Nations (UN) official told senior North Korean figures there was an \u201curgent need\u201d to keep channels open to avoid the risk of war, the organisation says. The statement follows a visit to Pyongyang by Jeffrey Feltman, the highest-level trip by a UN official to the isolated nation in six years. North Korea […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":57441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57438"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57442,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57438\/revisions\/57442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}