Amidst fresh nuclear rhetoric from North Korea, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry today spoke to his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se reaffirming their shared commitment to peaceful denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and regional stability.
“Kerry and Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se spoke on Saturday via telephone about regional and global priorities,” a statement said.
“Kerry reaffirmed our shared commitment to peaceful secularisation of the Korean peninsula and regional stability, and he highlighted our increasingly comprehensive global partnership with the Republic of Korea on a wide range of issues, from the refugee crisis to climate change,” it said.
The phone call talks between Mr. Kerry and Mr. Yin happened as the North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, in his address to his party’s Congress — the first in 36 years — said that his nuclear weapons and missile programmes brought his country dignity and national power.
The White House said the Obama Administration is aware of developments in North Korea and it is watching them closely.
“We obviously are aware of the risk that is posed by North Korea’s effort to develop nuclear weapons and systems capable of delivering those nuclear weapons,” the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference.
“The United States has worked effectively with the international community to counter those efforts, and as a result, North Korea has faced increasing isolation, which is saying something because they were pretty isolated at the end of last year and that trajectory has only gotten worse for them. And we know that it’s had a negative impact on what is already a rather weak economy,” he said.
