The Foreign Ministry called on Monday for relevant parties to stay calm and maintain the direction of talks and negotiations while addressing the Korean Peninsula issue.

The comment came after reports said that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea stated it would stop nuclear tests if the United States stopped joint military drills.

Relevant parties should "take comprehensive measures", cope with the issue by "addressing both symptoms and root causes", and "reasonably address each other's concerns", Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a news conference on Monday.

Tension in the peninsula rose sharply as the DPRK announced it had conducted a fourth nuclear test on Jan 6.