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| ▲ South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong (R), U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman (C) and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori are seen holding a joint press conference at the U.S. state department in Washington on Feb. 13, 2023 following their trilateral talks at the department in this captured image. (Yonhap) |
US-S Korea-Japan
U.S., S. Korea and Japan will jointly deter N. Korean threat: Wendy Sherman
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (Yonhap) -- The United States, South Korea and Japan will work together to deter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats and to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Monday.
The U.S. diplomat also insisted that trilateral cooperation among the U.S. and its two allies is only getting stronger.
"The DPRK continued to threaten the ROK, Japan and its neighbors and the world with the launch of an unprecedented number of ballistic missiles last year," Sherman said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"Standing united, our nations will deter the DPRK and urge it to give up its nuclear weapons program and abide by its obligations under U.N. Security Council resolutions," she said at a joint press conference with her South Korean counterpart, Cho Hyun-dong, and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori.
The three met here earlier in the day for their third trilateral talks since South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol took office in May 2022.
North Korea fired 69 ballistic missiles last year, marking a new record number of ballistic missile launched in a year. Its previous annual record was at 25.
"We committed ourselves to respond to any North Korean provocation and work toward complete denuclearization of North Korea," Cho said of the trilateral vice foreign ministerial meeting.
"Peace without denuclearization is fake peace," he added.
The South Korean vice foreign minister said the three countries will further enhance their cooperation to counter North Korea's evolving threats.
"In response to this threat, (we will) strengthen robust ROK-U.S. combined with defense posture, and at the same time enhance our trilateral security cooperation with the U.S. and Japan," said Cho.
ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea's formal name.
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