Seoul, Jan 12 (EFE).- North Korea’s nuclear program and regional stability dominated the first call between South Korea’s new foreign minister and his American counterpart, official sources reported Friday.
Cho Tae-yul spoke to United States State Secretary Antony Blinken about Pyongyang’s military manoevers and the situation in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.
«Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Cho also agreed to continue working together to address the complex and evolving security challenges posed by (North Korea), as well to support peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea,» the US State Department said in a statement.
North Korea conducted maneuvers three days in a row next to the disputed western maritime border, leading Seoul to respond with its own tests and announce it would resume drills with its army in this area. It is an example of the new level of tensions after the regime announced the suspension of a 2018 bilateral military agreement designed to avoid conflict over the divide.
South Korea said the parties strongly condemned North Korea’s nuclear and missile developments as well as military cooperation toward Russia, and committed to working closely on the international stage, including in the United Nations.
Washington sanctioned three companies, four aircraft and one individual Thursday accused of being involved in supplying North Korean ballistic missiles to Russia. It comes after new intelligence showed Pyongyang appears to have transferred short range missiles from North Korea to Moscow and more than 1 million artillery rounds for use in Ukraine.
Cho and Blinken agreed to strengthen the mechanism the US undertakes to protect its ally and which since last year also includes the option of a nuclear response to hypothetical North Korean attacks.
Both praised the three-way cooperation between South Korea, the US and Japan to confront North Korea and urged to further promote rapprochement based on the trilateral summit they held last summer at Camp David.
The officials also committed to supporting peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, the Washington statement added. This reference was omitted by Seoul’s statement, in a new display that relations between Seoul and Beijing are going through a delicate moment since the arrival of Yoon Suk-yeol to the South Korean presidency in 2022. EFE
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