SOUTH KOREA’S new president offered to send a special delegation to China to difuse tensions in the region yesterday.

During a 40-minute telephone call between President Moon Jae In and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, the two leaders discussed the military stand-off with North Korea and the deployment of the US’s THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea.

Mr Moon’s predecessor Park Geun Hye — impeached earlier this year for corruption — approved the deployment last year which China and Russia said was aimed at neutralising their own nuclear deterrents.