By So Hyang Choi
SEOUL (Reuters) – Officials from the United States, South Korea and Japan met in Seoul on Friday for talks on North Korea amid signs that the remote country will conduct a nuclear test for the first time since 2017.
U. S. Special Representative Sung Kim met with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Kim Gunn and Funakoshi Takehiro, after the U. S. met with his Counterparts from South Korea and Japan. The U. S. Military Administration will assess that North Korea is preparing its Punggye-ri control site for what would be its seventh nuclear control.
“We are for all scenarios in close coordination with our Japanese and South Korean allies,” Kim said at the start of the meeting, referring to South Korea by the initials of its official name, Republic of Korea.
This year, North Korea tested several ballistic missiles and added one of its largest intercontinental ballistic missiles, in violation of UN sanctions.
“We need to make the DPRK perceive that its illegal and destabilizing activities have consequences and that the foreign network will not settle for such movements in a normal manner,” the US envoy said, referring to North Korea.
South Korea’s new nuclear envoy, Kim Gunn, said that “North Korea’s relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons will only be our deterrence. “
“The path Pyongyang is embarking on lately has only one inevitable destination: North Korea’s own security,” the South Korean diplomat said.
Last week, the United States called for more U. N. sanctions against North Korea over its ballistic missile launches, but China and Russia vetoed the suggestion, publicly dividing the U. N. Security Council over North Korea for the first time since it began punishing it in 2006. when it conducted its first nuclear test.
Japan’s Funakoshi wants coordination and pledged to “strengthen regional deterrence, adding trilateral security cooperation. “
Officials said the door to discussion was open and expressed fear over the COVID-19 scenario in North Korea.
Earlier, U. S. Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said the U. S. The U. S. would link humanitarian aid to North Korea in its fight against COVID with denuclearization.
(Reporting through so-hyang Choi, Dogyun Kim and Daewoung Kim; Edited through Robert Birsel)