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New Secretary of State Rubio joins South Korea, Japan in condemning DPRK weapons programs and military ties with Russia

The top diplomats of the U.S., South Korea and Japan reaffirmed their commitment to North Korea’s complete denuclearization and strengthening trilateral cooperation amid growing concerns over Pyongyang’s military ties with Russia.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya pledged to work together against Pyongyang’s military activities in their first trilateral meeting held on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the three ministers emphasized their “resolute commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea” and expressed concern about Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs, illicit cyber operations including cryptocurrency theft and increasing military cooperation with Russia.

Rubio, Cho and Iwaya also warned the DPRK that their countries will not tolerate any “provocations or threats” and agreed to strengthen sanctions enforcement against North Korea and maintain pressure to block the illicit activities funding its weapons development.

Apart from the security concerns, the three countries condemned “the long-standing and ongoing systematic, widespread, and gross violations of human rights in and by the DPRK.”

They also called for the immediate resolution of issues related to individuals abducted, detained or held as prisoners of war by North Korea, as well as families separated by the division of the two Koreas.

The trilateral meeting marked the first such talks involving Rubio, who took charge as secretary of state in late January after the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, and was one of several diplomatic engagements that took place on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Rubio again reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to the “complete denuclearization” of the DPRK while maintaining openness to dialogue in a separate bilateral meeting with Cho on Saturday. The two officials also discussed “strategies to deter North Korean aggression,” according to a State Department press release.

As South Korea deals with the fallout of impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol’s short-lived martial law imposition in early December, Rubio expressed confidence in Acting President Choi Sang-mok’s administration and the strength of the U.S.-ROK alliance.

Rubio’s affirmation of the bilateral alliance comes as concerns remain in South Korea following Trump’s election, given the new president’s repeated threats to withdraw U.S. troops from the ROK. 

The future of cooperation between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo also remains in doubt following Yoon’s impeachment and the end of Joe Biden’s presidency, as the two leaders were strong advocates of boosting trilateral coordination to deter DPRK threats.

Meanwhile, during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference, Cho drew attention to North Korea’s deployment of troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to a South Korean foreign ministry press release. 

The ROK foreign minister stated that there is “no precedent” for an Asian country to dispatch troops to a European war at the request of a European country, warning that Pyongyang’s support for Russia’s war efforts will lead to “the expansion and prolongation of the Ukraine war” and poses a considerable security risk for both Europe and the Indo-Pacific region.

“North Korea is trying to obtain military support from Russia that will help strengthen its ability to threaten not only South Korea and Japan but also the U.S. and other countries around the world in return for support from Russia, and this is making efforts to end the Ukraine war more difficult,” Cho reportedly said. 

In a separate meeting on the sidelines of the conference in Munich, the foreign ministers of the G7 bloc of industrialized nations condemned North Korea’s military assistance to Russia for the Ukraine war and called on it to immediately cease all support, including by withdrawing its troops.

The G7 ministerial joint statement also expressed “serious concern” over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and reaffirmed their commitment to the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” while calling on North Korea to abandon all nuclear weapons and related programs “in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner.”