Japan, U.S., and South Korean officials agreed on Saturday (January 16) to work together on new sanctions against North Korea after the isolated state said it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country conducted a hydrogen bomb test as a self-defensive step against a U.S. threat of nuclear war and had a sovereign right to do so without being criticized, state news agency KCNA had reporter earlier this month.
North Korea’s fourth nuclear test angered both China and the United States, although the U.S. government and weapons experts doubt the North’s claim that the device it set off was a hydrogen bomb.
Japanese Vice Foreign Minister, Akitaka Saiki, said after trilateral talks with his U.S. and South Korean counterparts, they agreed to work together on new sanctions in a new U.N. Security Council resolution.
“Specifically, we’ve agreed to work together to implement practical means into new sanctions at a new United Nations Security Council Resolution,” he said in Tokyo.
He declined to give details of the proposed sanctions when asked by a journalist.
South Korea warned North Korea on Wednesday (January 13) that the United States and its allies were working on sanctions to inflict “bone-numbing pain” after its latest nuclear test.
Speaking during the news conference, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said he stood with South Korea and Japan in condemning the test.
“The United States stands firmly united with the Republic of Korea and Japan, together with our five party partners, in strongly condemning this test, and in our determination, to impose costs to DPRK’s (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) flaunting of its international obligations,” Blinken said.
Blinked also mentioned the landmark agreement between Japan and South Korea to resolve the issue of “comfort women” forced to work in Japan’s wartime military brothels.
“Just last month, the governments of the Republic of Korea and Japan concluded a historic agreement, on the sensitive historic issue of “comfort women. The United States applauds this agreement. It took courageous statecraft on the part of both governments, and it represents a very important gesture of healing and reconciliation,” Blinken said.
Japan and South Korea reached an agreement last month. Japan apologised and promised about one billion yen ($8.47 million) to help surviving women who were coerced into prostitution.
Reuters
