Condemning North Korea's Ballistic Missile Launch Test and Agreeing to Coordinate Closely
[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] The leaders of the United States and Japan condemned North Korea's ballistic missile launch tests and agreed to closely coordinate with each other and South Korea. They reaffirmed the importance of trilateral cooperation on various issues and emphasized their commitment to joint efforts in responding to China.
According to major foreign media on the 21st (local time), the White House issued a press release following the first virtual summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, stating, "The two leaders condemned North Korea's recent ballistic missile launches, which violate United Nations Security Council resolutions."
They also mentioned, "They pledged to maintain close coordination on North Korea issues in step with South Korea toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." This marks the first time President Biden has expressed his views on North Korea.
North Korea recently conducted ballistic missile tests and has indicated the resumption of nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test launches.
Cooperation among the three countries, including South Korea, the United States, and Japan, was also emphasized. The two leaders agreed on the need for a strong relationship on security and broader issues. In particular, they pledged to counter China's actions in the East China Sea and South China Sea and to cooperate on peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and Japanese leaders decided to hold the Quad summit, a kind of China containment consultative body, in Japan in the first half of this year. They also agreed to establish a "2+2 Economic Policy Consultative Meeting," which will include foreign and economic ministers alongside the existing diplomatic and defense ministers' 2+2 meetings operated by both countries. This is interpreted as an effort to build infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region to counter China's grand economic initiative, the Belt and Road Initiative (一帶一路).
The summit began at 8:01 a.m. Eastern Time and lasted 82 minutes until 9:23 a.m. This was the first formal meeting between the two leaders since Prime Minister Kishida took office in October last year. Originally, Prime Minister Kishida was scheduled to visit the United States, but the meeting was changed to a virtual format due to the spread of COVID-19.
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