Japan, US, S. Korea Agree to Step up Pressure on N. Korea

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Japan, US, SKorea Agree to Step up Pressure on N. Korea
By MARI YAMAGUCHI, ASSOCIATED PRESS - TOKYO — Oct 27, 2016, 3:29 PM ET
RE: http://abcnews.go.com/International/...korea-43093450

Senior officials from Japan, the United States and South Korea agreed Thursday to step up pressure on North Korea as they stick to their goal of persuading the communist state to abandon its nuclear weapons.

Their pledge comes just two days after U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper publicly called that goal a "lost cause." He said the best hope is capping its capability instead.

The deputy foreign ministers who held talks in Tokyo made clear that North Korea now poses a new level of threat and requires broader international pressure and tougher sanctions.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, after meeting with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts, said their policy has not changed.

"We will not accept North Korea as nuclear state, we will not accept North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons, period," Blinken said. "We are focused on increasing the pressure on North Korea with one purpose: to bring it back to the table to negotiate in good faith. Denuclearization. That is the objective."

Getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program has long been a headache in multilateral diplomacy with Pyongyang.

Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama, who hosted Thursday's talks, cited North Korea's recent tests showing the country's missile and nuclear capability had entered a new level of threat. "We need to respond differently than in the past," he said.

Officials cited the sanctions and missile defense that have been already in place, but did not elaborate on their different approaches other than fresh sanctions pending at the United Nations and possible separate additional measures by the three countries.

Meanwhile, South Korea said Thursday it plans to restart talks with Japan on a military intelligence sharing agreement to better cope with threats from North Korea.

Information from Japan's network of satellites and other intelligence-gathering systems would be critical in monitoring and preparing against North Korea's fast developing nuclear weapons and missile programs, South Korea's Defense Ministry said.

The United States, South Korea and Japan signed a joint intelligence-sharing pact in 2014, but under the framework Seoul and Tokyo only share intelligence about North Korea's nuclear and missile programs via Washington. A bilateral agreement between South Korea and Japan would enable a quicker transfer of information between the countries in urgent situations.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby welcomed the resumption of talks on a new pact.

"We believe that this potential agreement would strengthen cooperation between our two closest allies in Northeast Asia, particularly in light of the threat posed by North Korea," Kirby said.

South Korea and Japan nearly signed a bilateral intelligence sharing pact in 2012, but Seoul backed off at the last minute following political outcry at home. Many South Koreans hold resentment over Japan's brutal occupation of the Korean Peninsula before the end of World War II and express uneasiness about the country's military role in the region.

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Associated Press writers Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

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Park reaffirms sanctions approach to end N.K. nuke program
2016/10/24 16:27
RE: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news...008200315.html

SEOUL, Oct. 24 (Yonhap) -- President Park Geun-hye Monday reaffirmed South Korea's policy stance to impose sanctions on North Korea to press the communist country to give up its nuclear weapons program.

"The Korean Peninsula is currently faced with a security situation which is unprecedentedly grave and grim," Park said in her speech delivered at the National Assembly, intended to outline the government's budgetary requirements for 2017.

She said North Korea's nuclear weapons program is moving from the test phase toward the weaponization stage, highlighting that Seoul "will muster the international community's forces to put stronger-than-ever pressure and sanctions so as to leave North Korea with no other choice (than denuclearization)."

Her message comes as the United Nations Security Council is in the process of adopting a fresh round of sanctions on North Korea after the country conducted its fifth nuclear test last month in defiance of the latest UNSC Resolution 2270. The resolution passed in March was the strongest sanctions slapped on Pyongyang to date.

South Korea is also reviewing its own set of sanctions to push the North harder to disarm itself.

Park's remarks suggest South Korea's sanctions approach would remain unwavering after the United States and North Korea recently explored the possibility of dialogue over the denuclearization issue.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol and the North's U.N. Ambassador Jang Il-hun held two-day talks with former U.S. nuclear negotiators Robert Gallucci and Joseph DeTrani in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur on Friday and Saturday.

The U.S. later downplayed the rare meeting as non-governmental contact that has nothing to do with the U.S. government's official position.

The contact was nevertheless largely seen by many observers as an attempt to test each other's positions for the possibility of formal talks ahead of the U.S. presidential election slated for early next month.

pbr@yna.co.kr

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US warns 'overwhelming' response to any NKorea use of nukes
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON - Oct. 19, 2016 6:29 PM EDT
RE: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/a9760...against-nkorea

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States warned Wednesday that any attack on American allies or use of nuclear weapons by North Korea would be met with an "overwhelming" U.S. response as it sought to reassure close ally South Korea that the U.S. has its back.

The statement by Defense Secretary Ash Carter came as top U.S. and South Korean diplomats and military officials met, weeks after North Korea's most powerful nuclear test explosion to date, and days after its failed test launch of a ballistic missile — one of more than 20 such tests this year alone.

The flurry of activity has deepened concern over the North's progress toward having a nuclear warhead it can mount on a long-range missile.

The two sides discussed steps to strengthen the so-called "extended deterrence" provided by U.S. nuclear forces in defending South Korea and agreed to begin a high-level dialogue about it. Seoul is looking to allay calls from conservatives at home who want South Korea to develop its own nuclear arsenal.

"The U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea is unwavering. This includes our commitment to provide extended deterrence, guaranteed by the full spectrum of U.S. defense capabilities," Carter said in opening remarks.

"Make no mistake, any attack on America or our allies will not only be defeated, but any use of nuclear weapons will be met with an overwhelming and effective response," he said.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said the threat posed by North Korea is "more grave than ever" and that the North is "nearing the final stage of nuclear weaponization."

"North Korea's threat is no longer confined to the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia. It's now a direct threat to the mainland U.S.," he said after the talks. "The next few years will be the tipping point."

He said defense officials on Thursday would discuss the possibility of deploying U.S. "strategic assets" to the South — an apparent reference to permanently basing nuclear-capable planes or vessels there.

Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated the U.S. will deploy "as soon as possible" a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, a missile defense system intended to protect South Korea and the nearly 30,000 U.S. forces based there.

The plans for THAAD have angered China and Russia, which see it as a threat to their own defense.

Kerry called for every country to rigorously enforce U.N. sanctions on North Korea, which are intended — but have failed — to prevent its development of weapons of mass destruction. He said the international community needs to cooperate so the North "pays a price for its dangerous actions."

The U.S. and China, which is the North's traditional ally and main trading partner, are currently negotiating at the U.N. Security Council on tightening sanctions in response to the Sept. 9 nuclear test. The U.S., South Korea and Japan are considering additional sanctions of their own.

Kerry said the U.S. wants to close a loophole in the current U.N. sanctions allowing coal exports from North Korea to support the livelihood of its people. Kerry said that provision was being abused and the "greatest amount" of coal and revenue has just passed between China and North Korea.

The U.S. hopes that tighter sanctions can force impoverished North Korea to return to long-stalled negotiations on providing aid in exchange for denuclearization, but there appears to be little prospect of their resumption because of Pyongyang's determination to have nuclear weapons.

North Korea's state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Wednesday said the North would strengthen its nuclear capabilities in quantity and quality in response to the threat from its enemies.

"We have warned that South Korea will be engulfed in a sea of fire and the U.S. military units in the Pacific region and the mainland will be in chaos if the U.S. wages nuclear strikes against us," the newspaper said. "Our warning is not an empty word."

Kerry said claims from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that he needs nuclear weapons to defend against the U.S. defy common sense.

"The United States has had the power to wipe out North Korea for years. And if indeed that was out goal, we wouldn't be sitting around waiting" while they get additional nuclear weapons, he said.