Both South Korea and the U.S. expressed their intention to provide humanitarian aid… North Korea’s reaction will be key
South Korea and the United States took a stance on the 12th that they condemned North Korea’s first test-fire of a ballistic missile since the inauguration of the Yun Seok-yeol government.
Instead, North Korea left open the possibility of humanitarian aid such as vaccines for the first confirmation of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).
Although the space has been created for inter-Korean and North Korea-U.S. contacts, which are in a deadlock due to quarantine and vaccine support, if North Korea launches additional provocations such as a nuclear test and refuses to provide humanitarian assistance, tensions on the Korean Peninsula at the beginning of the new government may intensify. this is rich
Moreover, while President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit South Korea on the 20th and 22nd to discuss North Korea intensively at his first summit meeting with President Yoon, North Korea’s armed protests or response to the COVID-19 outbreak will have a significant impact on the situation on the Korean Peninsula in the future. seems to be
The National Security Office of the President’s Office held a meeting with Director Kim Seong-han on the same day, defining North Korea’s ballistic missile launch as a serious provocation and strongly condemned it.
The Security Office said, “The government has decided to continue close cooperation with the international community while maintaining a tight readiness posture.” “I deplored the behavior,” he said.
Kim also spoke on the phone with U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
After introducing the fact of the two people’s phone conversation through a press release, the White House condemned North Korea’s missile launch as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, and agreed to work closely to counter the North Korean threat and advance the common goal of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. said he promised.
After North Korea’s first armed demonstration after the inauguration of the new government in South Korea, the security command of the ROK and the United States made a quick phone call to warn of North Korean provocations and declared a resolute will to take a joint response. can
In response to a question by Yonhap News, the U.S. State Department condemned North Korea’s launch of ballistic missiles, but called for a diplomatic resolution, saying, “We maintain our promise of diplomatic access to North Korea and demand that North Korea engage in dialogue.”
In a commentary, the Indo-Pacific Command, which oversees US Forces Korea, said that it was “in close consultation with the alliance” and did not view it as an immediate threat to the United States and its alliance, but reaffirmed its existing position that North Korea’s illegal weapons development shows the impact on security instability.
North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles in a row from the Sunan area of Pyongyang to the East Sea two days after Yoon took office.
It was 16 missile provocations this year, including an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which has a range from the mainland of the United States.
On the other hand, South Korea and the United States expressed their intention to support North Korea’s announcement that it was the first to acknowledge the outbreak of COVID-19 on the same day and switched to the largest emergency quarantine system.
The Ministry of Unification said, “The government is in the position that support for North Korean residents and cooperation on quarantine and health care between the two Koreas can be promoted at any time from a humanitarian point of view.”
Unification Minister Candidate Kwon Young-se also said at a hearing at the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee’s personnel hearing, “We will prepare as much as possible to provide assistance as soon as we can,” saying, “North Korea will absolutely run out of vaccines, as well as antipyretics, painkillers, syringes and disinfectants.”
The White House National Security Council (NSC) said in a comment that it had no current plans to provide vaccines to North Korea, but said it would “continue its international efforts to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable North Korea.”
The United States has been open to humanitarian aid, including vaccines, apart from North Korean provocations such as missile tests.
/yunhap news