No Specific Mention of North Korea in the January Quad Meeting Statement
The Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting, a security consultative body comprising the United States, Japan, Australia, and India, will be held on July 1 (local time). Attention is focused on whether this meeting's joint statement will include references to North Korea, such as the phrase "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," which was omitted from the first Quad meeting statement following the launch of the second Trump administration in January.
U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott announced at a briefing on June 26 (local time) that "Secretary of State Mako Rubio will preside over the '2025 Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting' in Washington, D.C. on July 1."
Pigott also stated, "Secretary Rubio's first diplomatic activity was the Quad meeting. Next week's meeting will build on this momentum to advance freedom, openness, and stability in the Indo-Pacific region," adding, "Strength, peace, and prosperity are the hallmarks of American leadership."
Before his appointment as Secretary of State, Rubio was known as a leading hardliner on China during his tenure as a U.S. Senator. At this meeting, he is also expected to discuss various cooperation measures with other Quad member countries to contain China.
There is also interest in whether security issues related to the Korean Peninsula, including North Korea policy, will be discussed in depth. In the previous Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting held on January 21, the joint statement omitted references to North Korea, such as "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," which had consistently appeared in previous Quad summit or foreign ministers' meeting statements.
The statement released after that meeting consisted of only two sentences, making it much shorter than previous statements, and did not mention any specific countries such as China or North Korea. However, it did include language that has routinely been used to target China, such as "opposing unilateral actions to change the status quo by force or coercion."
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