Senior diplomats of South Korea, the US and Japan \u201cstrongly\u201d condemned North Korea\u2019s recent satellite and missile launches and reaffirmed their commitment to the \u201ccomplete\u201d denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula as they held trilateral talks in Virginia. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano issued a joint statement after the meeting at Campbell\u2019s private retreat at Iron Bell Farm on Friday, where they unveiled a plan to form a \u201ccoordinating mechanism\u201d for trilateral cooperation, reports Yonhap news agency.<\/p>\n
The meeting came as tensions heightened on the peninsula due to Pyongyang\u2019s failed launch of a military reconnaissance satellite on Monday and its artillery drills involving what it called super-large multiple rocket launchers days later. \u201cWe strongly condemned the DPRK\u2019s recent launches using ballistic missile technology, including a so-called \u2018military reconnaissance satellite,\u2019 which took place in violation of multiple UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions,\u201d they said in the statement. DPRK stands for the North\u2019s official name, the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe reaffirmed our commitment to the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, and call on the DPRK to engage in substantive dialogue with us, without preconditions,\u201d they added. Campbell reiterated that the US commitments to the defence of South Korea and Japan are \u201cironclad\u201d and backed by the full range of capabilities, including nuclear, and reaffirmed the US pledge to strengthen extended deterrence with the two Asian allies, according to the statement.<\/p>\n
Noting that the trilateral partnership is \u201cessential\u201d to security in the Indo-Pacific, they expressed their strong opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the waters of the Indo-Pacific and recognised the importance of opposing unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea. To further \u201cinstitutionalise\u201d trilateral cooperation, the three diplomats instructed their respective teams to \u201cexpeditiously develop parameters for a trilateral coordinating mechanism,\u201d they said. The coordinating body, if established, is expected to be the culmination of the three countries\u2019 efforts to reinforce three-way cooperation that has picked up pace amid improvement in bilateral ties between Seoul and Tokyo, long frayed over historical feuds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re committed to forming some sort of coordinating body, a secretariat of some kind,\u201d Campbell said during a press availability before the talks. \u201cWe have been tasked by our leaders to support and to make sure that we maintain forward momentum on the important work of this trilateral grouping.\u201d Commenting on continued North Korean provocations, Campbell pointed out Washington\u2019s efforts to have China exert its influence in order to address security challenges from Pyongyang. \u201cWe\u2019ve made very clear about our concerns of North Korea\u2019s provocative actions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe asked China to weigh in on Pyongyang to ask them to, first of all, refrain from such action and to accept the offers of dialogue and diplomacy that each of our three nations put on the table.\u201d He also underlined Beijing\u2019s close ties with Pyongyang along with its \u201canxieties\u201d about the North\u2019s military transactions with Russia. \u201cI think they too, have some anxieties of steps that North Korea has taken with respect to providing dangerous military equipment to Russia in this desperate time of battlefield tensions in Ukraine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to make our case with China and other countries about our concerns about North Korean activities.\u201d Asked about the debriefings he received from South Korea and Japan about their trilateral summit with China in Seoul on Monday, Campbell said that the US welcomes \u201crenewed\u201d diplomacy among Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo. \u201cWe appreciate the partnership with both Japan and South Korea, trusting us with a very deep and sincere debrief,\u201d he said. \u201cWe welcome the steps towards increasing dialogue and discussion on the critical matters of Northeast Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campbell said that Friday\u2019s three-way talks were aimed in part at preparing for a trilateral summit between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida later this year. Asked about the possibility of a three-way summit being held on the margins of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Washington in July, he said that no exact decision has been made yet. \u201cI think we\u2019re committed to doing a trilateral meeting at the leader level. We haven\u2019t decided exactly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the highest priority for us for the remainder of this year.\u201d Vice Foreign Minister Kim highlighted the North\u2019s continued violation of UNSC resolutions, including its arms transfers to Russia. \u201cDespite strong warnings from the international community, Russia and North Korea are continuing the illegal arms transactions or transfers of refined oil,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will continue to work together with the international community to curb the unlawful Russia-North Korea cooperation.\u201d He also commented on ongoing efforts to find an alternative to the now-disbanded UN expert panel tasked with monitoring the enforcement of anti-North Korea sanctions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will take some time, but we have already begun our discussion on this issue,\u201d he said. \u201cThe goal is to find a more effective mechanism to monitor the implementation of UNSC resolutions.\u201d Prior to the trilateral talks, Campbell and Kim held bilateral talks, where they discussed North Korea-related issues. \u201cThe two officials condemned the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea\u2019s hostile rhetoric, actions and ongoing human rights abuses,\u201d Matthew Miller, the State Department\u2019s spokesperson, said in a readout. \u201cThey also discussed support to Ukraine in the face of Russia\u2019s brutal war and shared insights on the People\u2019s Republic of China, emphasising the need to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and uphold the rules-based international order.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Senior diplomats of South Korea, the US and Japan \u201cstrongly\u201d condemned North Korea\u2019s recent satellite and missile launches and reaffirmed\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":47608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[158,2682,14817,4806,149,4081,1523,2679,150,3620,2128,775,95],"class_list":["post-47607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-china","tag-condemnation","tag-denuclearisation","tag-diplomacy","tag-japan","tag-missile-launches","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-sanctions-violations","tag-south-korea","tag-spy-satellite-launch","tag-tensions","tag-unsc","tag-usa"],"reading_time":"5 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}