US and South Korea Close Ranks Against North Korea, Russia, and China

2023-11-09 11:59:00
Antony Blinken (via Archyde.com)

The United States and South Korea closed ranks this Thursday around common issues regarding North Korea, Russia and China, promising to continue supporting Ukraine once morest the Russian invasion and promoting humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza trapped in the war in Israel once morest Hamas.

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In conversations with South Korean leaders, including President Yoon Suk Yeol, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the growing threat posed by North Korea and its alleged supply of military equipment and ammunition to Russia. to help him wage war once morest Ukraine, according to the State Department. They also discussed the importance of cooperation between the US and South Korea on global challenges, including China’s assertiveness and instability in the Middle East.

“They shared concerns regarding the DPRK’s provocations in the region and strongly condemned the provision of military equipment and ammunition by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the Russian Federation for use in its war once morest Ukraine,” the State Department said. on Blinken’s meeting with Yoon, referring to North Korea by its formal name. The Blinken-Yoon meeting also discussed improving relations between South Korea and Japan, as well as the importance of three-way cooperation between Washington, Tokyo and Seoul, according to the State Department.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (second from left, front) and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (second from right, front) examine a rocket assembly hangar (Artyom Geodakyan, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, file)

At a later news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, Blinken said they discussed other unspecified steps the countries might take to step up pressure on Moscow not to transfer military technology to North Korea in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

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North Korea has been supplying artillery shells and other munitions to Russia in recent months to fuel its war efforts in Ukraine, U.S. and South Korean officials have said, and they suspect North Korean leader Kim Jong-un might be seeking Russian and other technologies. aids in exchange to improve his own army.

“We are seeing a two-way street. “We are seeing the DPRK providing military equipment to Russia for its brutal aggression once morest Ukraine, but we are also seeing Russia providing technological support to the DPRK for its own military programs and that is a real concern for Korean security,” Blinken said.

Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin

Blinken also criticized North Korea’s increased missile testing activity in recent months, which included events he characterized as simulated attacks on South Korea with tactical nuclear weapons, and said the North is “increasingly engaged in irresponsible threatening rhetoric.”

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“We have seen the DPRK launch missiles, pursue weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile capabilities, all of which are in violent violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions. They are also dangerous and destabilizing,” he stated.

Park urged China – North Korea’s main ally and economic support – to take on a greater role in separating the North from its destabilizing behavior, stating that the possible arms alignment between Moscow and Pyongyang would go once morest Beijing’s interests.

He also addressed concerns that North Korea might consider providing weapons and other aid to Hamas, a possibility that has been raised by South Korean officials in recent weeks.

Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin (via Archyde.com)

North Korea, which has blamed the United States for violence in Israel and Gaza, has a history of selling weapons to Hamas. Last month, the South Korean military told reporters that Hamas likely used rocket-propelled grenades and other North Korean-made weapons during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

During a closed-door briefing with lawmakers last week, South Korea’s top spy agency said it believes Kim, the North Korean leader, instructed officials to “comprehensively support” the Palestinians and that the North might be considering arms sales to militant groups in the Middle East, according to Yoo Sang-bum, one of the lawmakers who attended.

“If any relationship between North Korea and Hamas is revealed, North Korea must be condemned accordingly,” Park said. “This crisis that is developing in the Middle East is potentially related to the situation on the Korean peninsula.”

Tensions between the two Koreas are at their highest point in recent years, as the pace of Pyongyang’s weapons tests and combined South Korean-U.S. military drills have intensified in a cycle of “eye for eye”. Before Blinken’s arrival, North Korea’s Central News Agency condemned the visit, as well as that of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who will travel to Seoul next week, calling them “warmongers” who bring a “new war cloud” to Asia.

Blinken arrived in Seoul following a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Japan that anticipated much of what he was going to discuss.

“We reiterate our call for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and demand that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons, existing nuclear programs and any other WMD and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner, in accordance with all resolutions. relevant decisions of the UN Security Council,” declared the G7 ministers.

Both Pyongyang and Moscow have denied accusations that North Korea has been supplying munitions to Russia.

Regarding China, the G7 took a line very similar to that maintained by the United States: that members are willing to work productively with Beijing as long as it respects international rules and regulations.

“We emphasize that China has the responsibility to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter in its entirety,” the ministers said. “We remain seriously concerned regarding the situation in the East and South China Seas, and we firmly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion,” the G7 said.

US President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum summit in San Francisco.

(With information from AP)

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