Washington to focus on increasing the pressure on Pyongyang

Seoul, Washington and Tokyo agreed on Thursday to hold a vice-ministerial talk in Tokyo to increase pressure on Pyongyang including imposing separate sanctions. The three nations have also reached a consensus in making close cooperation so that a stringent resolution against North Korea will be produced from the U.N. Security Council to punish its 5th nuclear test.

"We will not accept North Korea as a nuclear state, we will not accept North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons. Period. We are focused on increasing the pressure on North Korea with one purpose: to bring it back to the table to negotiate in good faith. Denuclearization. That is the objective,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a joint press conference held after the three-party talk at Japanese Foreign Ministry's Ikura Guesthouse.

South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Lim Seong-nam said that the three allies will place strong sanctions and increase the pressure on North Korea so that it will choose nothing but to give up its nuclear ambition. Lim also reaffirmed the need to adopt a new resolution, which will close the loopholes of the previous resolution, adding that North Koreans working overseas and human right issues were also discussed.

“We need to respond differently than in the past," Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama said. "The three nations have exchanged ideas to bring all the nations to fully carry out the resolution." As for a separate sanction, he spoke that Japan will maintain close talk with South Korea and the U.S., based on the resolution from the UN Security Council. Washington and Tokyo are now reviewing over imposing sanctions on third party countries that carry on trade with Pyongyang, which appears to be targeted on Chinese companies.

After the meeting, the Japanese vice minister told reporters that the three allies have agreed on producing the resolution as soon as possible even though it’s not a perfect one since the past resolution had taken several weeks, hinting that the resolution will come out anytime soon.

Following the meeting, Deputy Secretary Tony Blinken is visiting Seoul on Friday and Beijing on Saturday. “The U.S. and its allies had a rally (targeting at China that has been passive in imposing sanctions on Pyongyang) before he arrives China,” a high-ranking official from South Korean foreign ministry said.

도쿄=장원재특파원 peacechaos@donga.com