SEOUL/TOKYO– South Korea on Tuesday held high-level bilateral consultations with the United States and Japan on North Korea’s saber-rattling amid speculations that Pyongyang may soon conduct another nuclear test.

Cho Hyun-dong, Seoul’s vice foreign minister, met with his U.S. counterpart, Wendy Sherman, at the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo to discuss ways to deal with North Korea’s evolving threats highlighted by a series of ballistic missile launches in recent weeks.

“The two countries will solidify our deterrence against North Korea with overwhelming capabilities through a firm South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture and security cooperation,” Cho told reporters at the outset of the meeting.

He also reiterated a warning that North Korea will face an “overwhelming and decisive response” when it uses a nuclear weapon.

Sherman characterized North Korea’s continued provocations as being “deeply irresponsible, dangerous and destabilizing.”

“We will use the full range of U.S. defense capabilities to defend our allies, including nuclear, conventional and missile defense capabilities,” she said.
This week’s session comes amid growing concerns that the North’s Kim Jong-un regime may soon conduct another nuclear test and carry out additional provocative acts.

Officials in Seoul say the secretive North is apparently all set for its first nuclear test since September 2017.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said the North may carry out its seventh nuclear test between Oct. 16 and Nov. 7, after the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and before the U.S. midterm elections.

Cho and Sherman also exchanged views on China’s role in regional and global issues following the end of China’s key party congress meeting, and other issues surrounding Ukraine, Southeast Asian and Pacific Island countries.

Later in the day, Cho held a separate one-on-one meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Takeo Mori, at a Tokyo hotel.

According to the Seoul foreign ministry, the two sides shared grave concerns about the recent nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, and exchanged views on the need to continuously strengthen cooperation between South Korea and Japan, as well as among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo.

The two sides also discussed the protracted row over wartime forced labor and other areas of mutual concern, and agreed to consult each other on pending issues “with a sense of tension and speed,” the ministry added.

Source: Yonhap News Agency