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| ▲ Daniel Kritenbrink, the U.S. State Department's assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, speaks to reporters at the foreign ministry in Seoul on June 21, 2023, after holding talks with First Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin. Kritenbrink is in the South Korean capital to brief South Korean officials on a recent meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Daniel Kritenbrink (front), the U.S. State Department's assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, arrives at the foreign ministry in Seoul on June 21, 2023, to brief South Korean officials on a recent meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) US official-Seoul visit
(LEAD) U.S. hopeful for China's 'responsible attitude' on cooperation over N. Korea
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with remarks, details; CHANGES headline, photos; ADDS byline; TRIMS)
By Yi Wonju
SEOUL, June 21 (Yonhap) -- A senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday that Washington remains hopeful for China adopting a "responsible attitude" on cooperation over North Korea, adding that Pyongyang was one of the important issues when U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently visited Beijing.
Daniel Kritenbrink, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, made the remarks in Seoul, two days after Blinken held a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and they agreed to stabilize their relations.
Kritenbrink, who visited Seoul and briefed Seoul officials on the Xi-Blinken meeting, told reporters that, "We remain hopeful and certainly our expectation remains that China will also adopt a responsible attitude and make a contribution to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula as well."
Asked whether China will use its influence on North Korea after Blinken's visit to Beijing, Kritenbrink replied that North Korea was "one of the important issues that we discussed when Secretary Blinken was in Beijing."
"And we made very clear that we believe that Beijing has both the capability and responsibility to use its influence with North Korea to encourage North Korea to return to the negotiating table and to encourage North Korea to cease its provocative acts, particularly all of the recent missile tests that it has carried out," he said.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has bolstered efforts to rebuild ties with the United States and Japan as a stronger relationship with both countries could lead to more effective deterrence against North Korea's nuclear threats.
In particular, Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden adopted the Washington Declaration during their summit in April, agreeing to launch a Nuclear Consultative Group and regularly deploy U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula to increase the credibility of the U.S. "extended deterrence" commitment to South Korea.
Kritenbrink said the alliance between South Korea and the U.S. "has never been stronger."
"Certainly we have no better ally than the Republic of Korea," Kritenbrink said, referring to South Korea by its official name.
During his luncheon meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Choi Young-sam, Kritenbrink emphasized that the U.S. will maintain high-level channels of communication with Beijing to "avoid the possibility of conflict caused by misunderstanding and misperception" between the two countries, Seoul's foreign ministry said in a press release.
Separately, Kritenbrink met South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin to discuss Blinken's visit to China and a "whole host of other regional and bilateral issues."
"We're also encouraged about the cooperation that we see increasing between not just the U.S. and ROK, but the U.S., ROK, Japan and other partners as well," Kritenbrink said.
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