The conversations also come as North Korea has stepped up missile launches in the past year, and Tokyo contends with growing pressure from Chinese vessels around islands contested with Beijing.
Blinken on Friday reassured Foreign Minister Park Jin of the United States’ “ironclad commitment” to South Korea’s defense, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement Saturday.
“The Secretary and the Foreign Minister condemned the DPRK’s continued unlawful ballistic missile launches and noted the need for the PRC to use its influence to encourage Pyongyang to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy,” he added, using acronyms for North Korea and China’s official names.
Blinken repeated the “ironclad commitment” to defense to Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Hayashi Yoshimasa Saturday, and “condemned the DPRK’s continued unlawful ballistic missile launches into the Sea of Japan”.
The three countries issued a joint statement Thursday to “condemn” North Korea’s launch of two short-range ballistic missiles, shortly after Pyongyang warned of an “inevitable” response to ongoing US-South Korea joint military drills.
Source: CNA
