The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States and South Korea on Sunday reaffirmed their unity in urging North Korea to denuclearize as promised, despite Pyongyang accusing Washington of making unilateral and "gangster-like" demands. The ministers stressed the need to call on North Korea to take concrete
The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States and South Korea on Sunday reaffirmed their unity in urging North Korea to denuclearize as promised, despite Pyongyang accusing Washington of making unilateral and « gangster-like » demands.
The ministers stressed the need to call on North Korea to take concrete steps toward denuclearization and to keep existing U. N. economic sanctions in place.
« We were able to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the continued strengthening of our trilateral cooperation toward the common goal of North Korea’s complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement » of all nuclear weapons and missiles, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono told a joint press conference.
The second trilateral meeting in less than a month followed U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang on Friday and Saturday where he tried to work out the specifics of denuclearization with senior North Korean officials.
Washington and Pyongyang’s different take on the outcome of the latest meeting pointed to discord as North Korea accused the United States of making unilateral and « gangster-like » demands. Still, Pompeo dismissed North Korea’s accusation.
« I know actually what precisely took place. When we spoke to them about the scope of denuclearization, they did not push back, » Pompeo told the press conference.
