Bertrand GUAY / AFP | This file photo taken on July 13, 2017 shows French President Emmanuel Macron (L) talking to US President Donald Trump during a welcome ceremony at Les Invalides in Paris.

US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone on Saturday and agreed to work together on the North Korean crisis, the White House said in a statement.

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"They discussed the need to confront the increasingly dangerous situation associated with North Korea's destabilizing and escalatory behavior," the White House said in a statement.

French President Emmanuel Macron's Élysée office issued a statement saying that Macron had agreed to work with his US counterpart with the aim of "getting North Korea to conform to its international obligations".

In the statement, Macron referred to his "concern at the ballistic and nuclear threat coming from North Korea", saying world leaders needed to work to get Pyongyang to "resume the path of dialogue without conditions".

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

Macron added that France and other UN Security Council members want North Korea to "proceed with the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of its nuclear and ballistic programmes".

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 leader 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 and to exercise restraint and seek a political settlement.

Earlier this week, France had praised Trump's "determination" in standing up to Pyongyang.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS, AFP)

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