US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday welcomed new high-level talks between North and South Korea, while warning Pyongyang against trying to derail an upcoming South Korea-US military exercise.
Kerry, in Seoul to discuss North Korea’s nuclear program at the start of an Asia tour, stressed that the US would never accept the North as a nuclear state and that it would not be drawn into “talks for talks’ sake” with Pyongyang.
“We’ve been through that exercise already, we want to know that it’s real,” he said, adding that North Korea had to take “meaningful action” toward denuclearization before a dialogue could begin.
Photo: EPA
At the same time, he voiced full support for South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s efforts to build trust with the North and welcomed a recent diplomatic initiative that saw the rival Koreas meet on Wednesday for their highest-level talks in seven years.
A second round of discussions is scheduled for today, with North Korea pushing the South to postpone its annual military exercises with the US until after a planned reunion beginning on Thursday next week for family members separated by the Korean War.
The drills are scheduled to begin on Feb. 24 and Seoul is refusing to consider a postponement — a stance that Kerry made clear had Washington’s backing.
Kerry said the reunion was a purely humanitarian issue and there was “no legitimate excuse” for linking it to the military exercises that take place every year.
North Korea should act out of “human decency” and not try and use “one [issue] as an excuse to somehow condition the other,” he added.
Last year’s exercises fueled an unusually sharp and protracted surge in military tensions, with Pyongyang threatening a pre-emptive nuclear strike and nuclear-capable US stealth bombers making dummy runs over the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea views the drills as a rehearsal for invasion and has repeatedly demanded their permanent cancelation.
The US has about 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea.
Under its defense agreement with Washington, South Korea is protected by the US nuclear umbrella and the US would assume overall operational command of joint US and South Korean forces if a full-scale war with the North broke out.
Kerry’s Asia tour will also take him to China — North Korea’s only major ally — where he indicated he would push Beijing to do more to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
“China has a unique and critical role it can play ... and no country has a greater potential to influence North Korea,” Kerry said.
Kerry’s visit comes ahead of an Asia tour in April by US President Barack Obama, which will take in Japan and South Korea — the two main US military allies in the region.
Ties between Seoul and Tokyo are at their lowest ebb for many years, causing concern in Washington which feels the three allies must maintain a united front — particularly on the issue of North Korea.
Kerry urged both countries to try to put the past behind them, saying it was “critical” to maintain “robust trilateral cooperation.”
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