U.S. President considering Korea DMZ visit when traveling to Asia this month
By Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden is contemplating a visit to the Korean Demilitarized Zone when he visits Asia later this month, White Home press secretary Jen Psaki stated on Thursday.
Biden is predicted to go to South Korea and Japan from Might 20-24 and maintain talks together with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts.
Psaki stated the White Home was nonetheless finalizing particulars of the Asia schedule however a visit to the closely fortified DMZ separating the 2 Koreas is a step that’s taken by many who go to the area.
A number of former U.S. presidents, and Biden himself earlier than he turned president, have visited the DMZ, however former President Donald Trump turned the primary to have met a North Korean chief there when he held a 3rd assembly with Kim Jong Un in June 2019 as a part of his unsuccessful effort to influence him to surrender his nuclear and missile applications.
The DMZ is commonly described because the world’s final Chilly Warfare frontier and has existed because the 1950-53 Korean Warfare led to a armistice reasonably than a peace treaty.
Psaki repeated a U.S. evaluation that North Korea could possibly be able to conduct a seventh nuclear take a look at as early as this month. North Korea has not examined a nuclear bomb since 2017, however resumed testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles this yr.
“We shared this data with allies and companions and are intently coordinating with them,” Psaki stated.
North Korea has lately stepped up weapons assessments and resumed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches this yr for the primary time since 2017.
U.S. and South Korean officers have been saying for weeks that there are indicators of latest building at Punggye-ri, North Korea’s solely recognized nuclear take a look at website, and that Pyongyang may quickly take a look at one other bomb.
North Korea fired three ballistic missiles in the direction of the ocean off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea and Japan stated, in its newest assessments geared toward advancing its weapons applications, even because it reported a COVID-19 outbreak for the primary time.
In condemning the most recent launch, the U.S. State Division stated it remained dedicated to a diplomatic method with North Korea and reiterated a name for Pyongyang to return to dialogue.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, David Brunnstrom and Jarrett Renshaw; Enhancing by Chris Reese, Mark Porter and Sandra Maler)
