WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is pressuring China to restrain North Korea from further provocative acts against the South following what the U.S. called a “premeditated” violation of the truce that ended the Korean War.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley on today called China “pivotal” to changing North Korea’s behavior and said Beijing has a responsibility to make it clear to Pyongyang that deliberate attempts to inflame tensions with Seoul are not acceptable.

Crowley said U.S. diplomats had delivered that message to Chinese officials in Washington and Beijing.

The statement came after Tuesday’s North Korean artillery attack on a South Korean island that killed two South Korean troops and two civilians and sparked a dramatic escalation of tensions between the rival Koreas.