HONOLULU (Washington Insider Magazine) – After Pyongyang started the year with a string of missile tests, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Hawaii on Saturday to address the danger presented by nuclear-armed North Korea.
North Korea was “in a phase of provocation,” Blinken said after the meeting, and the three countries denounced the latest missile tests.
In a joint statement, the three urged North Korea to engage in talks and stop its “unlawful activities.” They stated that they had no aggressive intentions against North Korea and that they were willing to meet Pyongyang without restrictions.
North Korea has a history of employing provocations like a missile and nuclear tests to entice Western concessions. The latest tests come as the North’s economy, which has already been ravaged by years of mismanagement and harsh US-led sanctions, is hammered by a plague of border restrictions.
The tests are widely interpreted as an attempt to persuade President Joe Biden’s administration to ease sanctions. The Biden administration has indicated that it will not do so until the North’s nuclear program is significantly reduced, but it has promised open-ended negotiations.
North Korea has turned down US proposals to resume negotiations, claiming that it would not return to discussions unless Washington abandons what it considers to be hostile policies. According to NBC NEWS, the North is enraged by US sanctions as well as frequent military drills with South Korea.
The tests also have a technological component that allows North Korea to fine-tune its stockpile of weapons. The Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile, which was recently tested, is capable of hitting the US island of Guam. It was the North’s first long-range weapon test since 2017.
North Korea appears to be halting its nuclear testing while China, its most significant ally and economic lifeline, hosts the Winter Olympics. Analysts think, however, that after the Olympics, North Korea would drastically intensify its weapons tests.
Blinken flew in from Fiji, where he joined Acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum as well as other Pacific leaders to discuss regional challenges, including climate change’s grave threat. It was the first time since 1985 that a US secretary of state has visited Fiji.
He began his Pacific tour in Australia, where he met with Australian, Indian, and Japanese colleagues. The four countries make up the “Quad,” a group of Indo-Pacific democracies formed to fight China’s regional clout.
