WASHINGTON, DC: The United States, Japan and South Korea” highly oppose” any punitive attempts to change the status quo in the Indo- Pacific waters and” highly denounce” North Korea’s new launches using ballistic missile systems, Voice of America reported.
Following a meeting held on Friday in Little Washington, Virginia, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell met with South Korea’s Kim Hong Kyun and Japan’s Masataka Okano.
The officials agreed to keep a close relationship with one another regarding North Korea and other regional and global stability issues, along with a proposal to establish a new coordination body to further align their priorities.
Before the meeting at his home, US Deputy Secretary of State Campbell stated that the desired body would likely be” some sort of a secretariat of some kind,” according to Kyodo.
The three allies stressed the importance of preventing conflict and stability across the Taiwan Strait and acknowledged the necessity of “opposing unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea.” We call for the peaceful resolution of cross-strait disputes and there is no change in our fundamental positions on Taiwan.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un allegedly oversaw a” super-large multiple rocket” launch exercise aimed at South Korea on Friday, according to Pyongyang state media.
The development comes a day after Pyongyang announced that it had launched a satellite rocket launch attempt on Thursday but failed to launch one. South Korea reported that North Korea had fired about 10 short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Thursday.
Despite criticism from the US, Japan, South Korea, and other regional allies and partners, North Korea has continued to pursue its nuclear and missile programs.
The launch of ballistic missiles from North Korea on May 27 and May 29 by the United States, which it claimed was “in direct violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions ( UNSCRs )”
These launches, it said, continue North Korea’s “reckless behaviour”,” which poses a grave threat to the Korean Peninsula, the region, and international peace and security and undermine the global non- proliferation regime”, the US State Department said.
Meanwhile, the US and Japan have emphasized the significance of the “new era of strategic global cooperation” between Washington and Tokyo, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement
For the first US-Japan Strategic Diplomacy and Development Dialogue, Campbell also met with Japan’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Okano Masataka, and USAID’s Deputy Administrator, Isobel Coleman, in Washington, DC on Friday.
During the latter’s visit to Washington, DC on April 10, US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Kishida made the announcement of the Dialogue.
The two nations reinforced their commitments to working with developing partners to address shared challenges. They also emphasized the value of sustainable development and high-quality infrastructure for promoting economic growth.
