United States (U.S.) Secretary of State, Anthony J. Blinken says the U.S. will continue to seek the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula without hostile intent against North Korea.
He was addressing a joint press briefing after fruitful deliberations with Republic of Korea’s Foreign Minister Park Jin on a number of issues, including recent ballistic missile launch by North Korea, Russia invasion in Ukraine and COVID-19 at the Department of State here on Monday.
“We continue to seek the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. And let me emphasize that the United States has absolutely no hostile intent toward the DPRK,” he added.
Mr Blinken who officially met his Korean counterpart for the first time in the U. S under the new Korean President said the U. S. was open to dialogue with North Korea without preconditions and ready to support North Korea with COVID-19 vaccines.
“We’re open to dialogue without preconditions. We want to support the people of North Korea, including with COVID-19 vaccines – indeed, we have offered our help consistently throughout the pandemic, and again during the awful surge they are now enduring, which comes on top of severe economic and humanitarian crises. Our goal, simply put, is a peaceful and stable region and world.”
While underscoring the need for peace to reign on the Korean Peninsula, Mr Blinken said the U. S. and its allies would continue to keep the pressure on North Korea “until the regime in Pyongyang changes course. “
He said the U.S. was working very closely with the Republic of Korea and other partners to develop the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which “our countries launched together in Tokyo last month along with 11 others to put in place a robust foundation for strong and sustainable economic growth across an incredibly dynamic region.”
The U. S. Secretary of State commended Korea for standing together with the U. S. and its allies in the wake of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Mr Blinken touted the bilateral-economic relationship between the two countries noting that while the U. S. remains Korea’s second largest trading partner, Samsung one of Korea’s giants was building a semi-conductor factory in Texas, which would create thousands of jobs in the United States, while Hyundai had announced more than $11 billion in new investments in American manufacturing, including a new electric vehicle plant and battery factory in Georgia.
For his part, Mr Jin reiterated Korea’s commitment to using dialogue and diplomacy in resolving the differences between the two countries but said that any North Korean provocations, including a nuclear test, would be met with a united and firm response from its alliance and the international community.
“We have been very clear that we remain committed to dialogue and diplomacy. We are prepared to take a more flexible and open-minded approach to diplomacy vis-à-vis North Korea. We seek dialogue with North Korea without preconditions. We urge North Korea to cease destabilizing actions and return to dialogue.”
“We also reaffirmed our willingness to provide COVID-19-related humanitarian assistance to North Korea irrespective of political considerations. We hope that Pyongyang will respond positively to this offer. The 21st century U.S.-ROK alliance is about more than the security terms, security realm. It is now an economic security alliance and a tech alliance. Korea, as a global pivotal state, or GPS, stands ready to assume a more active role in advancing freedom, peace, and democracy around the globe.”
FROM MALIK SULLEMANA ,
