South Korea holds the view that China appears to be putting as much pressure as possible on North Korea by indicating it will accept a U.S. surgical strike on North Korea’s nuclear facilities.

The Global Times, an English-language daily under the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper the People’s Daily, reported on Saturday that if the U.S. attempts a surgical strike on the North's nuclear facilities, China would try to stop such a move through diplomatic means, but its military intervention would be unnecessary.

In response to the report, South Korea's Unification Ministry spokesman Lee Duck-haeng said on Monday, during a regular news briefing, that since the article does not officially represent the Chinese government, it's hard to say that Beijing officially announced its approval of a strike.

However, he added Beijing appears to be increasing pressure on Pyongyang to resolve the current crisis, recognizing the seriousness of North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations in Northeast Asia.

Meanwhile, the paper warned if the regime conducts a sixth nuclear test, China will sharply slash oil supplies to the North.

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