The United States, South Korea, and Japan on Saturday reiterated their commitment to complete North Korea denuclearisation as Pyongyang continues to resist disarmament efforts ahead of potential talks with Washington.
US President Donald Trump has made repeated overtures to Pyongyang regarding nuclear negotiations, fueling speculation that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could meet at next month’s APEC summit in China.
According to the US Department of State, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi reaffirmed their joint commitment to North Korea denuclearization during talks held Friday on the side lines of the G20 meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
The three nations also pledged full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions, including strict enforcement of bans against funding North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Despite decades of UN sanctions, North Korea—backed by Russia and China—has enshrined its status as a nuclear-armed state into law, while its regime continuously declares its atomic arsenal permanent and irreversible.
Open To Meeting
Trump has repeatedly approached Pyongyang for nuclear negotiations while scaling back joint military exercises with South Korea.
Last year, the US leader departed from long-standing American policy by acknowledging North Korea as “kind of a nuclear power” and expressing full openness to a meeting—a proposal that drew no response from Pyongyang.
Analysts and South Korea’s intelligence agency suggest Kim may have communicated Pyongyang’s position regarding prospective talks with Trump during a recent visit to the Chinese border city of Dandong.
In September, South Korea’s dovish President, Lee Jae Myung, who has consistently offered Pyongyang unrestricted talks, proposed that Washington pursue a freeze on the North’s nuclear program instead of demanding immediate abolition in exchange for sanctions relief.
Backstory…
North Korea’s nuclear ambitions have remained a major security concern for the United States and its Asian allies for decades. Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, prompting international sanctions and efforts to stop its weapons development.
Diplomatic efforts gained momentum in 2018 when US President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, but negotiations collapsed in 2019 over disagreements on sanctions relief and nuclear disarmament.
Since then, North Korea has expanded its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, strengthened military ties with Russia and repeatedly rejected demands to abandon its nuclear weapons.
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