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Diplomats from US, S. Korea, Japan discuss N. Korean threat

Military Times: SEOUL, South Korea — Senior officials from the United States, South Korea and Japan reaffirmed their countries’ commitment Wednesday to finding a diplomatic solution to the threat posed by North Korea’s rapidly expanding nuclear program. However, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan stressed that the allies must be prepared for any contingency.

After meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Seoul, Sullivan said the U.S. continues to view diplomacy, supported by pressure and sanctions, as the primary means for solving the North Korean nuclear problem. But despite that approach, the Trump administration will continue to keep “all options on the table” because the “regime in Pyongyang is unpredictable and non-transparent,” he said.

“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,” Sullivan said at a news conference after the meeting, where the officials mainly discussed responses to North Korea’s nuclear activities.

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