North Korea is “in the provocation phase” with its recent ballistic missile tests, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday.
Mr. Blinken and his South Korean counterparts Chung Eui-yong and Japanese Hayashi Yoshimasa reaffirmed their unity in the face of the North Korean threat on Saturday during a meeting in Honolulu, in the American state of Hawaii.
Pyongyang “must cease its illegal activities and begin dialogue,” they wrote in a joint statement, describing as “destabilizing” the seven weapons tests carried out by North Korea since the beginning of the year.
Washington, Tokyo and Seoul “have no hostile intentions” with regard to Pyongyang and continue to wish the opening of a dialogue “without preconditions”, added the three ministers.
North Korea “is in the provocation phase,” Blinken said later in a joint press conference with his counterparts.
“We continue to look for ways to hold (North Korea) accountable” for its actions, he added, citing recent sanctions imposed by Washington on eight people and organizations linked to the Kim Jong Un regime. .
Mr. Blinken stopped in Hawaii on his return from a tour of the Pacific, which took him to Australia and Fiji. In Melbourne, he attended a meeting of the Quad, the alliance between the United States, Australia, Japan and India intended to counter the growing influence of China in Asia-Pacific.
During this week-long tour, the White House published an 18-page document emphasizing the centrality of the region, renamed “Indo-Pacific” by American diplomacy, for the interests of the United States.
“This strategy reflects the fundamental truth that, more than in any other part of the world, what happens in this region will influence the lives of Americans and people everywhere,” Blinken said in Honolulu.