China Pressures North Korea

In a rare display of public pressure, China expressed “worry” to ally North Korea over the country’s planned satellite and rocket launch, which is raising tension in the region and could break a recent aid deal with the U.S. Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua said Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Hijun met with Pyongyangs’s ambassador on Saturday to discourage the launch, which is planned for April to mark the 100th birthday of its late leader Kim Il-sung, grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un. In a report released Saturday, Zhang said he hoped North Korea would “exercise restraint and avoid escalation of tension that may lead to a more complicated situation.”