China on Thursday reiterated its support for a ‘political solution’ to tensions on the Korean peninsula after Pyongyang announced that its constitution now recognises South Korea as an ‘enemy state’.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said: ‘We have always believed that maintaining peace and stability on the (Korean) peninsula and promoting the path of peaceful resolution of the issue is in the interests of all parties,’ she said, as quoted by AFP.

Earlier, North Korea announced that its constitution now considers the South a ‘hostile state’, in Pyongyang’s first official confirmation of legal changes called for by leader Kim Jong-un earlier this year.