By Park Si-soo

Chinese leader Xi Jinping told his American counterpart Donald Trump in a phone call on Tuesday that the hard-earned easing of tensions on the Korean Peninsula must continue, Reuters said.

He said unity on the issue was extremely important, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Xi called for "joint efforts to keep up the hard-won momentum for the easing of the situation on the Korean Peninsula" and for creating conditions to restart talks, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

He also said the two countries should settle their economic and trade issues by opening the markets to each other and "making the cake of cooperation bigger."

Meanwhile, senior officials from 20 nations will gather in Vancouver on Tuesday for a summit on curbing North Korea's nuclear ambitions, in a bid to increase diplomatic and financial pressure on Pyongyang to scrap its missile and nuclear programs, according to Reuters.