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Japan, US, South Korea vow to seek total denuclearization of North Korea
In a meeting in London, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui Yong agreed to push North Korea to comply with its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions over its nuclear and missile programs, the ministry said.
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(left-right) Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korea's foreign minister Chung Eui-yong take part in a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers meeting in London on May 5, 2021. G7 foreign ministers meet in London for their first face-to-face talks in more than two years, with calls for urgent joined-up action to tackle the most pressing global threats. (AFP/Ben Stansall)
T
he foreign ministers of Japan, the United States and South Korea on Wednesday affirmed close coordination to try to achieve the complete denuclearization of North Korea, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
In a meeting in London, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui Yong agreed to push North Korea to comply with its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions over its nuclear and missile programs, the ministry said.
It marked the first such gathering since the launch in January of US President Joe Biden's administration, which recently completed its policy review on North Korea.
The three ministers held talks on the sidelines of the Group of Seven foreign ministerial meeting in the British capital.
On Monday, Blinken expressed hope that North Korea will return to negotiations toward the goal of denuclearization, saying the Biden administration has made clear that it will pursue "practical" diplomacy on the issue, unlike the grand-bargain style employed by Biden's predecessor Donald Trump.
The three-way talks were initiated by the United States, according to diplomatic sources, after South Korea was invited by Britain to join the G-7 session as a guest along with India, Australia, South Africa and Brunei, this year's chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Washington hopes for improved ties between its two Asian allies, seeing that robust trilateral ties are indispensable for curbing Pyongyang's weapons development and keeping an increasingly assertive Beijing in check.
The G-7 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, plus the European Union.
