China on Thursday once again urged all six parties of the Korean peninsula nuclear talks to safeguard the negotiating mechanism.

"We hope all the parties to proceed from the overall situation, properly resolve relevant issues and make concerted effort to maintain the six-party talks," Foreign Ministry spokeswomen Jiang Yu told a regular press conference.

She reaffirmed that China would continue to play a constructive role in realizing the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and ensuring peace and stability of northeast Asia.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said on Wednesday that it might conduct nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests in self-defense if the UN Security Council did not apologize for "infringing" on the country's sovereignty."

The DPRK's Foreign Ministry also said the country planned to build a light water reactor as its first step to build a nuclear power plant.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2009)