Following North Korea's test-firing earlier this month of what analysts said was its longest-range rocket yet, the UN Security Council vowed to push all countries to tighten sanctions against Pyongyang.

But China has made it clear that the push for talks - and not more sanctions - is its priority. On Monday it pleaded again for dialogue.

"We hope that related parties can remain calm and restrained, ease the tension on the peninsula, and bring the peninsula issue onto the right track of peaceful dialogue again," the Chinese foreign ministry said.

The US has said it is willing to enter into talks only if the North halts its missile and nuclear tests.

Several rounds of UN sanctions have done little to stop the isolated regime from pushing ahead with its ambition to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can deliver a nuclear warhead to the continental US.