Foreign Affairs

nitpicker

(7,153 posts) Sun Dec 22, 2019, 07:14 AM Dec 2019

North Korea threat looms as China, Japan, South Korea leaders meet

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-china-japan-southkorea/north-korea-threat-looms-as-china-japan-south-korea-leaders-meet-idUKKBN1YQ01V?il=0

North Korea threat looms as China, Japan, South Korea leaders meet

Se Young Lee

BEIJING (Reuters) - The spectre of new confrontation between Pyongyang and Washington hangs over meetings between China, Japan and South Korea this week, with growing risks North Korean actions could end an uneasy detente and upend recent diplomatic efforts.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping separately on Monday. They will then travel to the southwestern city of Chengdu for a trilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Though they are expected to discuss various economic matters, North Korea appears likely to dominate the agenda.

Pyongyang has grown increasingly frustrated that its halt of nuclear and long-range missile tests has not ended the crippling economic sanctions against it. It set a Dec. 31 deadline for the United States to make concessions, but Washington has been unmoved.

Some experts believe North Korea may be readying to test an intercontinental ballistic missile launch soon, which would likely end the 2018 agreement struck by its leader, Kim Jong Un, and U.S. President Donald Trump.
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North Korea threat looms as China, Japan, South Korea leaders meet (Original Post) nitpicker Dec 2019 OP

Seoul's position on easing sanctions on a reciprocal step by step basis has always been clear soryang Dec 2019 #1

soryang

(3,299 posts)

1. Seoul's position on easing sanctions on a reciprocal step by step basis has always been clear

Reply to nitpicker (Original post)

Sun Dec 22, 2019, 11:25 AM

Dec 2019

But the Reuters report says

But it’s unclear whether Beijing can convince Seoul and Tokyo to break ranks from Washington, which has made its opposition clear and can veto any resolution.

This is a misleading statement. It is perfectly clear that only Tokyo actually supports Washington's position on refusing to ease any sanctions.

If one actually reads the UN resolution 2387 of Dec. 22, 2017, it:

26. Reaffirms its support for the Six Party Talks, calls for their resumption, and reiterates its support for the commitments set forth in the Joint Statement of 19 September 2005 issued by China, the DPRK, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the United States, including that the goal of the Six-Party Talks is the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner and the return of the DPRK to the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards at an early date, bearing in mind the rights and obligations of States parties to the NPT and underlining the need for all States parties to the NPT to continue to comply with their Treaty obligations, that the United States and the DPRK undertook to respect each other’s sovereignty and exist peacefully...

The language of the resolution was negotiated with Russia, China and the US for a reason because the Joint Statement of 19 September 2005 also says this:

Joint Statement of the Fourth Round of the Six-Party Talks
- September 19, 2005

5) The six parties agreed to take coordinated steps to implement the aforementioned consensus in a phased manner in line with the principle of "commitment for commitment, action for action."

This is the so called step by step approach which the US doesn't follow and every time this issue is brought up, the US side claims it demonstrated "flexibility" which is in fact an avoidance of the principle. Only Japan supports this approach. None of the other six parties do.

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