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▼ Abe, Pence Vow to Keep Pressure on N Korea
- Category:Event
TOKYO - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence agreed Wednesday to work closely with each other and with South Korea to maximize pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile development programs.
"It's extremely significant that Mr Pence and I showed to the world the unshakable bond of the Japan-U.S. alliance, when the Asia-Pacific region is drawing the international community's attention just before the Pyeongchang Olympics," Abe said at a joint press conference after their talks in his office in Tokyo.
Abe and Pence are scheduled to visit South Korea Friday to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics on Friday and have separate meetings with President Moon Jae In.
Pence said his presence in Pyeongchang will serve partly to cheer on U.S. athletes and partly to "stand with our allies and remind the world that North Korea is the most tyrannical and oppressive regime on the planet," adding the United States will not allow North Korean propaganda to "hijack" the Olympic Games.
The Abe-Pence meeting comes as Tokyo and Washington are sharing concerns that South Korea is leaning toward an excessively conciliatory stance with North Korea in the run-up to the Olympics.
The two Koreas have decided to form a joint women's ice hockey team and march together under a unified flag in the opening ceremony after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month voiced his readiness to send a delegation to the international sports event.
"We will continue to intensify our maximum pressure campaign until North Korea takes concrete steps for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization," Pence said.
Abe said the two will confirm such a policy during their respective talks with Moon to demonstrate the strong cooperation among the three countries.
Amid the Olympic-centered thaw between the two Koreas, Washington and Seoul have agreed to delay joint military exercises until after the end of the Winter Paralympics on March 18. Pyongyang opposes the exercises, calling them preparations for invasion.
Abe and Pence agreed on the importance of the joint drills from the standpoint of strengthening pressure on North Korea, a Japanese official who attended the meeting said without elaborating.
Noting that North Korea reportedly plans to conduct a large-scale military parade in Pyongyang on Thursday, Abe said they shared the view that the North's provocative acts are continuing and that they cannot accept a nuclear-armed North Korea.
The two agreed to boost efforts to prevent the North from evading existing sanctions, and Pence said the United States will soon unveil fresh unilateral measures that he called "the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever."
Pence, who arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday evening, visited Japan's Defense Ministry prior to his talks with Abe to observe Patriot Advanced Capability-3 ground-based missile interceptors deployed there.
The PAC-3 interceptors form part of Japan's missile defense system, which the country plans to upgrade with U.S.-developed technology in light of the threat from North Korea.
The U.S. military presence in Japan has recently come under fresh scrutiny over a series of forced landings and mishaps involving helicopters in Okinawa Prefecture, which hosts the bulk of the U.S. military facilities.
The Japanese official said Abe explained the situation in Okinawa to Pence and the two "shared an awareness of the importance of efforts to ensure the safe operation of U.S. military aircraft."
Pence will leave Japan for South Korea on Thursday.
© KYODO
"It's extremely significant that Mr Pence and I showed to the world the unshakable bond of the Japan-U.S. alliance, when the Asia-Pacific region is drawing the international community's attention just before the Pyeongchang Olympics," Abe said at a joint press conference after their talks in his office in Tokyo.
Abe and Pence are scheduled to visit South Korea Friday to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics on Friday and have separate meetings with President Moon Jae In.
Pence said his presence in Pyeongchang will serve partly to cheer on U.S. athletes and partly to "stand with our allies and remind the world that North Korea is the most tyrannical and oppressive regime on the planet," adding the United States will not allow North Korean propaganda to "hijack" the Olympic Games.
The Abe-Pence meeting comes as Tokyo and Washington are sharing concerns that South Korea is leaning toward an excessively conciliatory stance with North Korea in the run-up to the Olympics.
The two Koreas have decided to form a joint women's ice hockey team and march together under a unified flag in the opening ceremony after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month voiced his readiness to send a delegation to the international sports event.
"We will continue to intensify our maximum pressure campaign until North Korea takes concrete steps for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization," Pence said.
Abe said the two will confirm such a policy during their respective talks with Moon to demonstrate the strong cooperation among the three countries.
Amid the Olympic-centered thaw between the two Koreas, Washington and Seoul have agreed to delay joint military exercises until after the end of the Winter Paralympics on March 18. Pyongyang opposes the exercises, calling them preparations for invasion.
Abe and Pence agreed on the importance of the joint drills from the standpoint of strengthening pressure on North Korea, a Japanese official who attended the meeting said without elaborating.
Noting that North Korea reportedly plans to conduct a large-scale military parade in Pyongyang on Thursday, Abe said they shared the view that the North's provocative acts are continuing and that they cannot accept a nuclear-armed North Korea.
The two agreed to boost efforts to prevent the North from evading existing sanctions, and Pence said the United States will soon unveil fresh unilateral measures that he called "the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever."
Pence, who arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday evening, visited Japan's Defense Ministry prior to his talks with Abe to observe Patriot Advanced Capability-3 ground-based missile interceptors deployed there.
The PAC-3 interceptors form part of Japan's missile defense system, which the country plans to upgrade with U.S.-developed technology in light of the threat from North Korea.
The U.S. military presence in Japan has recently come under fresh scrutiny over a series of forced landings and mishaps involving helicopters in Okinawa Prefecture, which hosts the bulk of the U.S. military facilities.
The Japanese official said Abe explained the situation in Okinawa to Pence and the two "shared an awareness of the importance of efforts to ensure the safe operation of U.S. military aircraft."
Pence will leave Japan for South Korea on Thursday.
© KYODO
- February 8, 2018
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