United Nations - China's UN ambassador Wang Guangya has appealed for restraint in the crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons, calling six-nation talks the "best channel" to resolve tensions.

 

"This is a sensitive issue, so I urge all sides to exercise restraint," Wang said. "The best channel is still the six-party talks."

 

UN chief Kofi Annan joined the Security Council Tuesday in voicing "deep concern" over North Korea's plan to test a nuclear weapon, with the United States urging a coherent response.

 

Japan's UN ambassador Kenzo Oshima, the council president for October, said the 15-member body would meet early Wednesday to come up with a "firm, appropriate response" to what he called a "very serious matter".

 

North Korea gave no date for the planned test, but the shock announcement raised grave concerns around the world three months after North Korea's missile launches.

 

Through his spokesman, Annan said he shared "the global concern" over the North Korean nuclear weapon test, which if carried out, "would bring universal condemnation and will not help DPRK (Pyongyang) achieve the goals expressed in its statement, particularly with regard to strengthening its security."

 

Diplomatic efforts have intensified to bring North Korea, which last year declared itself a nuclear-armed nation, back to the disarmament talks.

 

But, Pyongyang says it will not return to the six-party talks unless Washington ends financial sanctions imposed in September last year.

 

The country has refused to resume the six-party talks -- involving China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States -- since last November to protest those sanctions.