Cho said that South Korea and the USA share an assessment that the North is ready to conduct a nuclear test at any time if it decides to.
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North Korea’s foreign minister said Tuesday that any decision to stage a further nuclear test would depend on the United States, as he held Washington responsible for scuppering denuclearisation efforts on the Korean peninsula.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon upped the ante by agreeing to equip South Korea with a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, one of the most advanced missile defense systems in the world.
North Korea carried out a number of nuclear tests and rocket launches leading up to the Workers’ Party congress this May.
However, the audacious tests have yet to cease.
The ministry says it’s the first time for Pyongyang to use a river to send leaflets.
As an indicator of the growing schism between Beijing and Washington, foreign ministers clashed at a regional forum in Vientiane, Laos, over the South China Sea dispute and the deployment of a US -led antiballistic missile system in Korea.
Soldiers are complaining about the assignment, suggesting “not even a 3-year-old would believe the South would attack us with snakes”, the source said.
Right Conn-young, that’s according to South Korean officials who are here in Laos for the meeting, and also South Korea’s foreign minister Yun Byung-se had mentioned that it’s not an easy process to get every single ARF member’s stance on paper. A whole paragraph under a section titled “Highlights of discussions on Regional and International Issues”, deals with the current situation on the Korean Peninsula, expressing the foreign ministers’ and representatives’ concern over the North’s violations against the international community.
U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice clearly explained to Chinese officials that the THAAD missile defense system the U.S. plans to deploy in South Korea won’t hurt China’s security interests, and both sides achieved “a certain amount of clarity on that”, a senior official said.
China’s relations with North Korea have been strained by Pyongyang’s nuclear provocations but in a sign of warming ties, the North Korean foreign minister met with his counterpart Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the ASEAN security meeting in Laos. “For peaceful reunification, the priority task is for North Korea to make changes related to denuclearization”, Park said.
Under President Park Geun-hye, South Korea has worked to improve diplomatic and economic ties with China.
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Another key issue contested by participants was the recent landmark ruling on the South China Sea dispute by an global tribunal in The Hague earlier this month, which sided with the Philippines and denied most of Beijing’s claims over the waters.
