Relations between Beijing and Pyongyang have frayed this year after North Korea’s fourth nuclear test and a series of missile launches put the region on edge.
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The ministers also discussed tensions in the South China Sea stirred by China’s military buildup in the waters, deemed as aimed at asserting its territorial claims and maritime rights, and agreed on the importance of peaceful resolution of disputes.
“Under the trilateral information-sharing agreement with the U.S. and Japan, South Korea is obliged to share the information it gets on North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests with Japan through the US”.
China slammed the bilateral decision between Seoul and Washington to deploy America’s most advanced missile-defense system to South Korea, by saying the move has spurred long-term consequences.
“If we are still defending with bows and arrows when the conflict escalates we are not going to create the deterrent effect that we need to to keep peace on the Korean peninsula”, Gen. Jacoby said.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) meets with his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se on the sidelines of an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in the Lao capital, July 24, 2016.
The announcement by South Korea and the United States this month that they would deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) unit has already drawn protests from Beijing that it would destabilise regional security.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the worldwide community is determined to let North Korea know that there will be “consequences” if it continues to pursue nuclear weapons.
But Pyongyang has continued to carry out missile launches – most recently last week – in a bid to prove that sanctions are ineffective in curbing its weapons development.
And during US Secretary of State John Kerry’s February visit to Beijing, he explained that the US was “not hungry or anxious or looking for an opportunity to deploy THAAD”, CNN reported.
Ahead of a bilateral meeting with Ri on arrival in the Southeast Asian nation, Wang made no secret of his aim to strengthen relations with the North.
Both Ri and Wang are attending a diplomatic gathering organised by the 10-member Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN).
The ARF is a rare opportunity for senior diplomats of countries involved in the long-stalled six-party talks to denuclearize Pyongyang to gather together. They include China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas.
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The South Korean foreign minister had talks with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, too.
