China working to ease N. Korea situation

After a day of meetings with top Chinese officials, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the us and China have made progress on a handful of issues and are pushing ahead on pressuring North Korea - despite President Donald Trump's claim that "it has not worked".

But the official said it was unclear if North Korea was preparing for a new nuclear test to coincide with the June 21 talks in Washington with Chinese officials.

Ohio's Republican U.S. senator says he had a secret meeting in December with North Korean officials to urge that they release a college student from his Cincinnati home area.

Wednesday's discussions replace a sprawling strategic and economic dialogue held annually under the Obama administration. Those talks rarely produced significant results. Their comments came after meeting with senior Chinese officials Wednesday to hash out a host of security issues, as Washington continues trying to enlist Beijing's help to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Tillerson said the delegations also had a "frank exchange of views on the South China Sea", where the Chinese military is engaged in a controversial island-building project, which the United States opposes.

Divisive trade issues will be dealt with at a later date.

China hit back at U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying its efforts on North Korea have been "indispensable".

The coroner's office daily report Tuesday included Warmbier in its listings with cause of death termed "pending".

Trump wrote on Twitter that while he appreciated the efforts of President Xi Jinping and China to help with North Korea, "it has not worked out". "There had not been any previous detainment in North Korea that has ended with such tragic finality and we have been struggling to process the result".

No cause of death has been determined for Warmbier, who was detained for almost a year-and-a-half in North Korea before being sent home in a coma last week.

Washington has also increased its criticism of North Korea after the death of the USA student, Otto Warmbier, shortly after he was released from North Korea.

"Unfortunately, the very bad torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today", Warmbier's parents said Monday.

But after Warmbier's death, the company that booked his visit - Young Pioneer Tours - said US citizens will no longer be allowed on their trips.

If the USA does want to ramp up its efforts to clamp down on Pyongyang's actions, then a likely target would be Chinese banks which trade with North Korea - a approach also taken with Iranian banks during US attempts to limit Iran's nuclear program.

Beijing's current proposed solution for North Korea is a "suspension for suspension" agreement where North Korea freezes its weapons programs in exchange for the USA and South Korea pausing joint military drills. That would only slightly add to the North's isolation and loss of revenue. The route to inflicting significant economic pain on Kim's government remains through China.

The US should used its protecting power, Sweden, and the NY dialogue channel with North Korea to demand a full explanation of what happened to Warmbier and an immediate release of all three other Americans still detained in the communist nation, it said.

But with the long-standing option of pre-emptive military strikes seen as far too risky for now, Trump's aides are stressing economic and diplomatic pressure.

"I think the president is signaling some frustration", Christopher Hill, a former United States ambassador to South Korea, told MSNBC. On Tuesday, Thornton cited Chinese restrictions on imports of North Korean coal as "notable" progress.

"Countries around the world and in the UN Security Council are joining in this effort, and we hope China will do their part as well", he said.