A senior White House official said the international community would respond sternly if North Korea conducted its seventh nuclear test. He has also repeatedly explained that the United States prefers diplomacy but focuses on defending the alliance when North Korea does not respond. The reporter Park Hyung-joo reports it.
On the 27th, the strategic communications coordinator of the National Security Council (NSC) of the White House, John Kirby, declared that “the response of the international community will be severe”, believing that the possibility of a further North Korean nuclear test remains. .
In a foreign press conference on the same day, coordinator Kirby said this confirming the US stance towards North Korea in response to a question about the significance of an “unprecedented strong response to North Korea’s nuclear test” to the recent trilateral meeting of foreign ministers between the United States and Japan.
[녹취: 커비 조정관] “The United States has said and continue to argue that we are willing to sit down with Mr. Kim without preconditions to pursue the denuclearization of the peninsula, which remains our goal. And the Pyongyang regime has not responded to that, what they have in fact the fact is to continue to test the missiles and try to continue trying to improve their military and offensive capabilities as they are, which only causes more instability in the peninsula and contributes to a degradation of the security environment “.
“The United States has said it is willing to face North Korean leader Kim Jong-un without preconditions, and we still hold that position,” Kirby said.
“The North Korean regime is not responding to this, but rather continues to test missiles and try to strengthen its military capabilities,” he said.
“We’ve been saying for months that President Kim could conduct another nuclear test at any time, and we still believe it,” Kirby said.
He also declined to comment, saying he would not make a preliminary prediction before President Biden regarding “response options”.
However, Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman explained that she was referring to the fact that, if so, the response from the international community would be severe.
[녹취: 커비 조정관] “We’ve been saying for months that Mr. Kim could conduct another nuclear test at any time and we still believe that he is. the gravity of the response of the international community, if so. And I think I have to leave it there. But once again I want to emphasize that we are willing to sit without preconditions. There is no reason for another trial to occur.
“I want to reiterate that we are willing to sit face to face without any preconditions,” Kirby said.
“We need to do what we need to do to make sure we can defend ourselves and our allies in a situation where President Kim doesn’t want to talk,” he said.
[녹취: 커비 조정관] Meanwhile. Since he has shown no inclination to want to speak, we must do what we must to make sure we can defend ourselves and our allies, five of our seven alliances in the United States or the Pacific region, five out of seven. And one of them is with the Republic of Korea. The other is with Japan. Another is with Japan. We also take our treaty commitments with Japan and South Korea very seriously, which is why in response to provocations from the North in recent weeks, we have increased our ability to gather information in and around the peninsula, have conducted and sought to hone military capabilities by conducting bilateral exercises with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the Republic of Korea Army. And we have stimulated, encouraged and tried to generate better trilateral cooperation between our three nations from the point of view of defense from the point of view of security “
“We take defense treaties with Japan and South Korea very seriously,” Kirby said.
That is why, in recent weeks, it has strengthened its intelligence-gathering capabilities in response to North Korean provocations, strengthened its military capabilities through bilateral exercises with Japan and South Korea, and facilitated and encouraged better trilateral security cooperation. military. .
“This is to ensure the defense of our interests and our allies in a situation where we lack a diplomatic path that we clearly prefer,” reiterated Kirby.
I’m Park Hyung-joo from VOA News.
