Tokyo, 10 May, /AJMEDIA/
Top U.S. and Chinese diplomats in charge of North Korean affairs held talks in Tokyo on Thursday, the State Department said, as Pyongyang’s relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles poses an increasing security challenge.
During the meeting with China’s Special Representative on Korean Peninsula Affairs Liu Xiaoming, Jung Pak, who is also deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs, stressed concern about North Korea’s deepening military cooperation with Russia, according to the department.
Pak said the United States views “dialogue and diplomacy” with North Korea as the only viable means of achieving permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, the department said.
It said she also voiced concern over China’s forcible repatriation of North Koreans, including asylum seekers.
The meeting came after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China in late April, during which he agreed with senior Chinese officials to maintain open lines of communication, regardless of differences over a number of thorny issues.
Blinken said at the time that he conveyed Washington’s “serious concern” about China providing microelectronics and other components to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.
The United States has warned China that it could roll out fresh sanctions on Chinese companies unless they stop such trade with Russia.
Separately, the White House said last week that Russia shipped more than 165,000 barrels of refined petroleum to North Korea in March in defiance of U.N. sanctions.
Officials have said the United States is coordinating with its partners, including Japan, South Korea and the European Union, to announce new sanctions against North Korea this month.
The United States has accused North Korea of sending ballistic missiles to Russia for its use in the war on Ukraine.
Pak, who has taken on the duties of U.S. special representative for North Korean affairs since Sung Kim’s retirement, also had a trilateral meeting with her Japanese and South Korean counterparts, Hiroyuki Namazu and Lee Jun Il, respectively, in Tokyo on Thursday.
They agreed to maintain close three-way cooperation in dealing with “the grave security threats” posed by North Korea’s weapons development program as well as its provocations and deepening military cooperation with Russia, according to the department.
