US nuclear envoy urges China to contain N. Korea
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U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Joseph Yun, left, shakes hands with South Korea's Representative to the six-party talks Kim Hong-Kyun during their meeting at Foreign Ministry in Seoul, Wednesday. / AP-Yonhap
By YI Whan-woo
Top U.S. nuclear envoy Joseph Yun urged China to contain North Korea, Wednesday.
He made the comment following talks with his South Korean counterpart in Seoul.
Yun, who is visiting Seoul after meeting Chinese officials in Beijing, said “I hope so” when asked whether he expects China to send a strong message to North Korea over a missile test in Wonsan earlier Wednesday.
“It is not helpful at all,” Yun said. “These are tests that have been banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions, so it’s not very helpful.”
Yun held talks with Kim Hong-kyun, Korea’s top nuclear negotiator, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in downtown Seoul.
He downplayed the possibility that the long-suspended six-party talks on North Korea’s denuclearization could resume soon. He said the U.S., South Korea and Japan should work with China to stop North Korea’s provocations and ensure that Pyongyang will no longer threaten U.S. allies in the region.
Yun is on a week-long visit in China and South Korea to discuss North Korea-related issues with his counterparts as a follow-up to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s East Asia tour from March 15 to 19.
In Beijing, Yun said he shared views on North Korea with Chinese officials.
He also said points delivered by Tillerson to China and South Korea over deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea were also on the agenda.
Tillerson expressed concern at China’s economic retaliation against South Korea for the THAAD deployment during his two-day visit to Beijing, Yun said.
The comment came amid speculation that Tillerson, a former ExxonMobil CEO, was low key and failed to convince China not to bully South Korea over THAAD.
Tillerson visited Japan and South Korea before Beijing and made a series of hawkish remarks against North Korea and China.
But he never directly mentioned THAAD during a joint press conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on March 18.
“The secretary conveyed it very strongly to the Chinese side and the secretary also said in private meetings that really retaliating against a defensive system, which China has done, was something that was uncalled for and something of a growing concern for us,” Yun said. “So I believe those points were well delivered by the secretary.”
Yun assessed the Seoul-Washington alliance as being at the “highest level of engagement,” referring to two phone calls between U.S. President Donald Trump and acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ Seoul visit in February and Vice President Mike Pence’s coming trip to Seoul.
“I want to thank you on your part in also making sure that the alliance relationship and our approach to North Korea is very closely coordinated,” Yun said.