KENICHI YAMADA,
Senior diplomats from Japan, South Korea and the U.S. agreed to increase pressure on North Korea at their meeting here Wednesday, reaffirming close cooperation in dealing with Pyongyang's nuclear and missile provocation.
Shinsuke Sugiyama, Japan's vice minister for foreign affairs, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan were joined by Lim Sung-nam, South Korea's first vice minister of foreign affairs, in the first talks among high-level officials of the three countries since January in the U.S.
The three diplomats agreed to apply maximum pressure on North Korea in ways designed to prompt the country to change its nuclear weapons development policy and become open to dialogue, Sugiyama said at a joint news conference after the meeting. "We exchanged in-depth opinions on specific measures to increase pressure," he added, but revealed no details.
Sullivan said the allies plan to apply pressure while working with such countries as China and Russia that are close to Pyongyang.
"Our objective is, throughout that campaign of pressure, to bring North Korea to the negotiating table without preconditions so that we can achieve our objective of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula," he said.
Lim noted that the allies are committed to all diplomatic means, including sanctions and talks, to reach a peaceful solution.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/International-Relations/Japan-US-South-Korea-agree-to-add-pressure-on-Pyongyang
