WASHINGTON • The United States, South Korea and Japan have agreed, in high-level security talks, to work together to keep up pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
In a joint statement on Friday after a day of talks, US President Joe Biden's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his Japanese counterpart Shigeru Kitamura, as well as South Korea's National Security Adviser Suh Hoon, reaffirmed their commitment to addressing the issue "through concerted trilateral cooperation towards denuclearisation".
The three countries also agreed on the need for full implementation by the international community of United Nations Security Council resolutions on North Korea, "preventing proliferation, and cooperating to strengthen deterrence and maintain peace and stability on the Korean peninsula", the statement said.
The national security advisers also discussed the value of working together to address other challenges such as Covid-19, climate change and promoting an immediate return to democracy in Myanmar.
The talks held at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, were the most senior-level meeting between the three allies since Mr Biden took power on Jan 20, and came against a backdrop of rising tensions after North Korean missile launches last week.
Mr Biden, whose administration is finalising a review of North Korea policy, said last week that the United States remained open to diplomacy with North Korea despite its ballistic missile tests, but warned there would be responses if North Korea escalates matters.
The White House has shared little about its policy review and whether it will offer concessions to get Pyongyang to the negotiating table to discuss giving up its nuclear weapons.
However, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said last Thursday that denuclearisation would remain at the centre of policy and any approach to Pyongyang will have to be done in "lockstep" with close allies, including Japan and South Korea.
Mr Biden's Republican predecessor, Mr Donald Trump, held three meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but achieved no breakthrough other than a pause in nuclear and intercontinental ballistic tests.
Mr Biden, a Democrat, has sought to engage North Korea in dialogue, but has been rebuffed so far.
A US official briefing before the talks said the North Korea review was in its final stages and "we're prepared now to have some final consultations with Japan and South Korea as we go forward".
Mr Joseph Yun, who was the US special envoy for North Korea under both former presidents Barack Obama and Trump, and is now at the United States Institute of Peace, said the policy options were obvious.
"You want denuclearisation and you want to use your sanctions to get to denuclearisation," he said. "But how to make the first step, so that at least North Korea is persuaded not to do anything provocative. That's the challenge."
Some proponents of dialogue are concerned that the Biden administration has not highlighted a broad agreement between Mr Trump and Mr Kim at their first meeting in Singapore in 2018, and warn this could make it difficult to build trust.
Meanwhile, South Korea's Foreign Minister said yesterday he expects China to play a role in peacemaking between South and North Korea, inviting China's President Xi Jinping to visit.
"South Korea and China share a common goal towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and towards permanent peacemaking policies," Mr Chung Eui-yong was quoted as saying by South Korean news agency Yonhap.
Mr Chung extended the invitation to Mr Xi to visit when the Covid-19 pandemic stabilises.
Mr Chung met State Councillor Wang Yi, the Chinese government's top diplomat, yesterday in the Chinese city of Xiamen, as part of the first visit of a South Korean foreign minister to China since 2017.
REUTERS
