The United States, South Korea and Japan have renewed their commitment to ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, even as speculation grows over a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next month.
The three countries reiterated their position on Friday during talks on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi “reaffirmed their resolute commitment to the complete denuclearisation” of North Korea, according to the US State Department.
They also pledged to ensure the “full implementation” of United Nations Security Council resolutions, including restrictions aimed at preventing revenue from supporting Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
The renewed commitment comes as North Korea continues to reject disarmament and insists that its nuclear arsenal is permanent and irreversible.
Despite years of international sanctions, Pyongyang, backed by Russia and China, has formally enshrined its status as a nuclear-armed state in law.
Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in restarting nuclear negotiations with Pyongyang, while also scaling back joint military exercises with South Korea.
The US president broke with longstanding American policy last year when he acknowledged that North Korea was already “sort of a nuclear power” and renewed his offer to meet Kim, saying he was “100 percent” open to talks. However, Pyongyang did not respond to the proposal.
Speculation is now mounting over a possible meeting between the two leaders during next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China.
Analysts and South Korea’s intelligence agency believe Kim may have communicated Pyongyang’s position on potential talks with Trump to Beijing during a recent visit to the Chinese border city of Dandong.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who has repeatedly offered to hold talks with North Korea without preconditions, suggested in September that Washington consider seeking a freeze on Pyongyang’s nuclear programme rather than demanding its immediate dismantling.
Under the proposal, sanctions relief would be offered in exchange for a halt to further nuclear development.
However, critics argue that such an approach could amount to tacitly recognising North Korea as a nuclear-armed state while allowing it to secure sanctions relief without surrendering its existing arsenal.
Analysts have also suggested that China may be moving towards tacit acceptance of North Korea’s nuclear status, pointing to the omission of denuclearisation from statements issued after Kim met Chinese President Xi Jinping in June.
North Korea, meanwhile, criticised a joint statement issued on Saturday by a group of countries monitoring the enforcement of sanctions against it.
Pyongyang insisted that “the stereotyped sanctions racket of the US and the West can neither influence the position of the DPRK (North Korea) as a nuclear weapons state.”
