Envoys from the United States, South Korea, and Japan meet to discuss North Korean nuclear tensions

*Paromita Das

Officials from the United States, South Korea, and Japan met in Seoul on Friday for talks about North Korea, amid indications that the isolated country is planning a nuclear test for the first time since 2017.

After a US assessment that the North was preparing its Punggye-ri test site for its seventh nuclear test, US Special Representative Sung Kim met with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Kim Gunn and Funakoshi Takehiro.

“We are preparing for all contingencies in close coordination with our Japanese and ROK allies,” Kim said at the start of the meeting, referring to South Korea as the Republic of Korea.
North Korea has conducted several ballistic missile tests this year, including one believed to be its largest intercontinental ballistic missile, in violation of UN sanctions.

“We want to make it clear to the DPRK that its illegal and destabilising activities have consequences, and that the international community will not accept these actions as normal,” the US envoy said of North Korea.

Kim Gunn, South Korea’s newly appointed nuclear envoy, stated that North Korea’s “relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons will only strengthen our deterrence.”

“The path Pyongyang is currently on has only one unavoidable outcome: reduced security for North Korea itself,” the South Korean diplomat said.
Last week, the US proposed more UN sanctions against North Korea for its ballistic missile launches. but China and Russia vetoed the proposal, publicly dividing the UN Security Council on North Korea for the first time since it began punishing it in 2006, when it conducted its first nuclear test.

Japan’s Funakoshi emphasized the importance of collaboration, promising to “enhance regional deterrence, including trilateral security cooperation.”

The officials stated that the door was open for dialog and expressed concern about the Covid-19 situation in North Korea.

Earlier, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman stated that the US would not link humanitarian aid to North Korea’s fight against Covid to denuclearization.