Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary Of State, and his Japanese- and South Korean counterparts met Saturday in Hawaii to discuss North Korea’s nuclear threat after Pyongyang launched a series missile tests.
Blinken met in Honolulu alongside Yoshimasa Hayashi, the Japanese Foreign Minister, and Chung Euiyong, South Korean Foreign Minister. The defense chiefs of the three countries said last week that North Korea’s missile tests had destabilized regional security.
Experts believe that North Korea is using the weapon test to pressure President Joe Biden to restart long-stalled negotiations on nuclear weapons. The pandemic adds further stress to an already fragile economy, already ravaged by decades of poor management and crippling U.S. sanctions.
Biden’s administration offered North Korea open-ended negotiations, but did not show any willingness to lift sanctions on the country without significant cuts to its nuclear program.
These tests also include a technical component that allows North Korea to improve its weapons arsenal. The Hwasong-12 intermediate range ballistic missile, one of the latest missiles tested, is capable of reaching Guam in the United States. It was the longest-distance weapon that the North had tested since 2017.
North Korea seems to be halting its weapons testing during the Winter Olympics in China. China is its most important ally, and its economic lifeline. Analysts believe that North Korea will significantly increase its weapon testing after the Olympics.
Pyongyang’s recent test have shaken Japan and South Korea, its neighbors. Moon Jae-in, the South Korean President who was instrumental in the historic talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (previous President Donald Trump) and him in 2018 and 2019, stated last month that the tests violated UN Security Council resolutions. He urged the North to stop “acts that create tensions or pressure.”
After North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006, the Security Council originally imposed sanctions against it. They were made tougher after further nuclear tests by North Korea and its increasingly advanced nuclear and missile programs.
China and Russia have asked for the lifting of sanctions that ban seafood exports, as well as prohibitions against its citizens working abroad and sending their earnings home.
Blinken traveled from Fiji to Hawaii, where he met Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Acting Prime Minister, and other Pacific leaders to discuss regional issues, including the existential threat posed by climate changes. This was the first U.S. secretary-of-state visit to Fiji since 1985.
He began his Pacific tour in Australia where he met with his counterparts from India, Australia, and Japan. They form the “Quad,” an Indo-Pacific bloc of democracies, which was formed to counter China’s influence in the region.
Hayashi and Chung had a separate meeting on Saturday that lasted about 40 minutes, before Blinken saw them. According to Japan’s Foreign Ministry, they reiterated the importance of cooperation with the United States and Japan to deal with North Korea and achieve regional stability.
According to the ministry, they also had a “frank” exchange of views on ongoing issues between the countries, including wartime Korean laborers as well as sexual abuse of Korean women forced into sex servitude by Japan’s Imperial Army.
Chung and Blinken also met separately. Hayashi met him earlier in Australia this week.
