PARIS (AFP) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday (Aug 12) warned against an “escalation of tensions” over North Korea amid a growing war of words between Washington and Pyongyang.

In a statement, Macron voiced his “concern at the ballistic and nuclear threat coming from North Korea”, saying the international community needed to work to get Pyongyang to “resume the path of dialogue without conditions”.

Macron joined a chorus of international voices urging restraint in the crisis, which has alarmed the global community as US President Donald Trump has engaged in days of verbal sparring with Pyongyang.

France and other UN Security Council members want North Korea “to conform without delay to its international obligations and proceed with the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of its nuclear and ballistic programmes,” Macron said in the statement.

He also assured “France’s allies and partners in the region of our solidarity in the current period”.

Xi Jinping, the leader of North Korea’s key ally China, urged Trump on Saturday to avoid rhetoric that could inflame tensions, after the US president ramped up his warnings to Pyongyang, saying the Stalinist regime would “truly regret” taking hostile action against the United States.

Trump’s warning came after the North threatened to fire ballistic missiles over Japan towards the US Pacific island of Guam.

The Chinese foreign ministry said Xi urged Trump to avoid “words and deeds” that would “exacerbate” the already-tense situation, exercise restraint and seek a political settlement.

Earlier this week, France had praised Trump’s “determination” in standing up to Pyongyang.