North Korea missile launch: US, Japan, South Korea diplomats meet in Tokyo, affirm cooperation
- Diplomats Sung Kim, Takehiro Funakoshi and Noh Kyu-duk agreed to continue denuclearisation efforts through ‘dialogue and sanctions’
- The meeting had already been scheduled, but came after Pyongyang said it had launched a long-range cruise missile
Senior diplomats from Japan, the United States and South Korea on Tuesday agreed to continue their efforts toward the denuclearisation of North Korea through “dialogue and sanctions”, a Japanese foreign ministry official said.
Their meeting in Tokyo came a day after Pyongyang said it had successfully carried out tests of a new long-range cruise missile over the weekend.
Sung Kim, US special representative for North Korea, said in response: “We hope the DPRK will respond positively to our multiple offers to meet without preconditions.” DPRK is the acronym of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
Noh Kyu Duk, South Korea’s special representative for Korean peninsula peace and security affairs, referred to the possibility of providing humanitarian assistance to North Korea.
China calls for restraint as North Korea tests missile able to reach Japan
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told a regular news conference on Tuesday that the meeting had been scheduled before North Korea’s test-firing of the missiles, but it would be a “good occasion to reconfirm close cooperation among the three countries and discuss the latest North Korean situation”.
Japanese officials and some experts said North Korea’s weekend missile test-firing was a “new threat” to the region.
US-North Korea denuclearisation talks are currently stalled as they have fallen short of bridging the gap between Washington’s push for complete denuclearisation and Pyongyang’s calls for sanctions relief.
Washington said on Monday it remains “prepared to engage” with Pyongyang toward ridding the country of its nuclear weapons even after the North announced the test-firing of the new cruise missile.
The United States has offered to meet “anywhere, anytime without preconditions” with North Korea, but Sung said Pyongyang has yet to respond to Washington’s call.
The new cruise missile can hit a target 1,500km away, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency – a range that would include almost all of the Japanese archipelago.
US still ‘prepared to engage’ with North Korea after missile test
The North hailed its new missiles as a “strategic weapon of great significance”, suggesting that they were developed with the intent to arm them with nuclear warheads. North Korea says it needs nuclear weapons to deter what it claims is hostility from Washington and Seoul.
The trilateral meeting was last held in June in Seoul.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
