China on Friday heaped praised on the leaders of the two Koreas for holding a landmark summit, calling their handshake over the Military Demarcation Line that divides the peninsula a "historic moment".

"We applaud the Korean leaders' historic step and appreciate their political decisions and courage," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing.

"We hope and look forward to them taking this opportunity to further open a new journey of long-term stability on the peninsula."

She also cited a poem that reads: "We remain brothers after all the vicissitudes; let's forgo our old grudges, smiling we meet again."

China is North Korea's sole major ally but it has supported a series of United Nations sanctions to punish Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile tests.

Beijing has pressed for dialogue to peacefully resolve the nuclear crisis.

Trump hails Chinese president's 'great help' on North Korea
Washington (AFP) April 27, 2018 - US President Donald Trump on Friday hailed the "great help" provided by his Chinese counterpart on North Korea, which has tacked toward diplomacy after carrying out nuclear and missile tests that sent tensions soaring.

"Please do not forget the great help that my good friend, President Xi of China, has given to the United States, particularly at the Border of North Korea. Without him it would have been a much longer, tougher, process!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

China is North Korea's sole major ally but it has supported a series of United Nations sanctions to punish Pyongyang over the nuclear and missile tests.

NATO chief hails Korea meet as 'encouraging' first step
Brussels (AFP) April 27, 2018 - NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg hailed Friday's historic summit between the leaders of North and South Korea as "encouraging", but warned of more challenges ahead.

"This is a first step, it is encouraging, but we have to realise there is still a lot of hard work that lies ahead of us," Stoltenberg said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met the South's President Moon Jae-in and agreed to pursue permanent peace and the complete denuclearisation of their divided peninsula.

Stoltenberg said the landmark meeting had come about as a result of the intense political, diplomatic and economic pressure the international community had exerted on Pyongyang.

"The most important thing today is to welcome the fact they have met, and even though there's a long way to go before we see a full resolution to the crisis and the problems we see on the Korean peninsula, I think this is a very important first step," the former Norwegian premier said.

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North Korea nuclear test site part-collapsed: Chinese experts
Beijing (AFP) April 25, 2018
North Korea's underground nuclear test site has partially collapsed following a massive bomb blast last year, making it unusable, Chinese seismologists have concluded. The North's leader Kim Jong Un declared last week that his regime would halt nuclear and long-range missile tests and shut down its nuclear site at Punggye-ri under Mount Mantap in the country's northeast. The offer came days before his summit this Friday with the South's President Moon Jae-in, which is scheduled to be followed by ... read more