Hagel meets with Chinese president Xi on North Korea

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday in Beijing and discussed denuclearizing North Korea.

The officials discussed the “continuing cooperation by China and the United States with the international community to achieve a complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization on the Korean peninsula in the face of the growing threat posed by North Korean nuclear and missile developments,” according to the Department of Defense. 

{mosads}Hagel announced earlier this week that the United States would deploy two additional ballistic missile defense ships to Japan to guard against North Korean missiles. 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has kept up a series of threats, last week warning of a new nuclear test.

While Hagel sought progress with Xi on North Korea, his trip to China has been testy at times. 

The Chinese defense minister, Gen. Chang Wanquan, said at a joint press conference with Hagel Tuesday that China had “indisputable sovereignty” over islands whose control it disputes with Japan. Hagel in turn admonished China for creating an air defense zone over the islands. 

The Pentagon said Hagel “thanked President Xi for the deep and candid conversations with China’s leadership.”

“The two leaders affirmed the need for continued dialogue between the two nations, building off of the foundation laid out in earlier conversations between Presidents Obama and Xi,” the readout said.