North Korea says it would stop its nuclear tests if the United States signed a peace treaty with Pyongyang and stopped its joint annual military maneuvers with South Korea.
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“We are going to continue to make sure the alliance is ready in all respects to act in defense of the South Korean people and the security of the peninsula”, he told a regular news briefing.
“Now the USA should be accustomed to the status of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state whether it likes or not”, the statement said.
The U.S. and South Korea fought on the same side during the 1950-53 Korean War – almost 30,000 American military personnel are stationed in the southern portion of the peninsula as a legacy of the uneasy truce that brought the conflict to a close.
North Korea said on January 6 it had tested a hydrogen bomb, provoking condemnation from its neighbors and the United States.
State Secretary John Kerry is to travel to Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Laos, Cambodia and China – where he’s expected to hold talks on responses to North Korea with officials in Beijing.
Earlier this month, North Korea ignited a worldwide backlash over claims that it had it tested a hydrogen bomb, yet experts expressed doubt over the assertion.
“We look forward to adopting a tough resolution in the shortest time”, Saiki said following his talks with his US and South Korean counterparts, Antony Blinken and Lim Sung Nam, in Tokyo, as quoted by the Kyodo news agency.
The statement stressed that North Korea will bolster its nuclear capabilities to deal with US threats, but “it will not deliberately use nuclear weapons”.
“It’s our expectation along with our colleagues… that China will demonstrate a real leadership at the Security Council with us in assuring that there are significant consequences for North Korea’s actions”, Blinken said.
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Iran’s foreign minister said worldwide sanctions on the country will be lifted on Saturday when the United Nations nuclear agency declares Tehran has complied with an agreement to scale back its nuclear program.
