Kerry, who is in the Laotian capital to attend an Asia-Pacific security conference that includes North Korea, told reporters Tuesday that North Korea is the only country that is moving in the opposite direction when the rest of the world is moving toward a nuclear-free world.
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Despite the latest sanctions, North Korea has continued to carry out ballistic missile tests in violation of United Nations sanctions, and has made it clear that it intends to continue nuclear testing.
But the senior USA official said that Rice and Chinese officials “agreed on our shared commitment to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” and talked about ways to work together to realize the goal.
Earlier this month, the North Korea-monitoring website 38 North reported that satellite imagery shows high-level activity at the North’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site, raising concern the regime may be preparing for another nuclear test.
“(Iran) was not going to pursue a nuclear weapon and, in exchange, would like to have sanctions lifted that had been put in place because of the evidence of that program”, Washington’s top diplomat said.
China is South Korea’s largest export market and also a key partner in Seoul’s efforts to curb North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.
“Whether we conduct additional nuclear tests is entirely up to the United States”, Ri Yong-Ho told reporters on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Laos. “It is not aimed at any other party other than North Korea and the threat it poses and this defensive weapons system is neither designed nor capable of threatening China’s security interests”, Reuters quoted a US official as saying.
The warning came after South Korean media said the North had sent teams of agents to those places to harm or abduct South Koreans in retaliation for the South’s granting of asylum to workers from a restaurant run by the North in China.
It says the leaflets contained threats to launch missile attacks on South Korea and praises of the North’s political system.
Kerry also called on North Korea to follow Iran’s example and sign an agreement to curtail its nuclear program.
North Korean recently warned of unspecified “physical” measures in response to a us plan to deploy an advanced missile defense system in South Korea by the end of next year.
China has released a video footage of its first-ever test of a ballistic missile interception system conducted in 2010.
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Many in South Korea believe their broadcasts could sting in Pyongyang because the rigidly controlled, authoritarian country worries that the broadcasts will demoralize front-line troops and residents and eventually weaken the grip of absolute leader Kim Jong Un.
