US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned North Korea’s missile tests.
Honolulu:
Top diplomats from Japan, South Korea and the United States on Saturday declared their unity against North Korea following a series of ballistic missiles launched by Pyongyang.
After a day of meetings in Honolulu, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Yue-yong and Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa described the series of seven launches as “unsettling” in a joint statement.
Pyongyang needs to “stop its illegal activities and instead engage in dialogue,” he said.
“The DPRK is in the provocation phase,” Blinken said at a press conference with his fellow foreign ministers, using the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“We continue to work to find ways to hold the DPRK accountable,” he said, citing recent sanctions imposed on eight people and entities linked to the North Korean government.
The three diplomats reiterated their commitment to the denuclearization of the entire Korean peninsula and the resumption of talks with Pyongyang, which has not responded to proposals from US President Joe Biden’s administration over the past year.
“The Secretary and Foreign Ministers stressed that they have no hostile intentions towards the DPRK and underlined their openness to meet with the DPRK without any preconditions,” he said in the statement.
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