BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- China called here Tuesday for maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

    "The maintenance of the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula serves the interests of all concerned parties," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a routine press conference.

    Ma's remarks came in response to a reporter's question about whether the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) might conduct nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests.

    "I hope the relevant parties could take the overall situation into consideration in a bid to safeguard the peace and stability of the peninsula," Ma said, expressing the hope that those countries could continue efforts to push forward the six-party talks process.

    The DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement on April 29 that the DPRK would hit back in self-defense, including conducting nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests, if the UN Security Council did not apologize for "infringing" on the country's sovereignty.

    Earlier in April, the UN Security Council adopted a presidential statement condemning an April 5 rocket launch by the DPRK and demanding the country "not conduct any further launch."

    Pyongyang subsequently announced it would quit the six-party talks on nuclear disarmament and restart nuclear facilities in protest over the UN statement.

    The DPRK conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.