The top U.S. nuclear envoy for North Korea expressed deep concern Thursday over North Korea’s belligerent rhetoric against South Korea, saying it is increasing “unnecessary” tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Jung Pak, U.S. senior official for North Korea, made the remarks ahead of trilateral talks with her respective South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Kim Gunn and Hiroyuki Namazu, saying the North Korean issue remains “an extraordinarily high concern” for the United States.

“The United States is deeply concerned by the recent uptick in hostile rhetoric particularly towards the Republic of Korea from the DPRK regime,” Pak said at the start of the talks. DPRK stands for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“Such rhetoric is unnecessarily increasing tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” she said.

The meeting among the three envoys took place as the North has been stepping up bellicose rhetoric, such as leader Kim Jong-un denouncing the South as an “invariable enemy” and thr
eatening to completely occupy the South in the event of war earlier this week.

On Sunday, North Korea also test-fired a solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) carrying a hypersonic warhead, about a week after it fired hundreds of artillery shells near the western inter-Korean sea border.

Denouncing the latest IRBM launch as “reckless,” Pak stressed that all of these issues demand attention and coordinated action among the U.S. allies and partners.

“We will continue our efforts to deter aggression, hinder the DPRK’s ability to advance its unlawful weapons programs, strengthen international consensus against the DPRK blatant, repeated, and reckless violations of multiple UN Security Council resolutions and enhance our ability to protect our allies in the region,” she said.

Kim, the South Korean envoy, said the North is heading in the opposite direction of peace with its recent ratcheting-up of tensions.

“All of these are aimed at insulating itself from the outside world. It is a North Korea
n version of a ‘closed-door policy,'” Kim said, warning that its threats about “a choice between war and peace is an old playbook that won’t work any longer.”

“We will strengthen our deterrence. We will dissuade any attempts by North Korea to disrupt our society and tirelessly enhance our efforts to block its illicit activities.”

The meetings in Seoul also came after North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this week amid growing concerns over their deepening military cooperation.

The U.S. and its allies have accused the North of providing arms support to Moscow for use in its war in Ukraine in return for Russia’s assistance in Pyongyang’s advanced weapons development.

Kim said the unlawful military cooperation with Russia will “only lead to a dead end.”

“It will simply confirm North Korea’s reputation as a blatant offender against international rules and norms,” he said, urging Pyongyang to stop its provocations and return to dialogue.

Namaz
u called for the need to closely monitor what Russia might provide North Korea in exchange for the arms exports, reiterating the call for Pyongynag and Moscow to comply with the obligations set forth by the U.N. Security Council.

Following Choe’s meeting with Putin late Tuesday, the Kremlin said that Russia was keen on developing relations further with North Korea in all areas, including “sensitive ones.”

Ahead of the three-way meeting, Kim held separate bilateral talks with Pak earlier in the day and with Namazu on Wednesday.

This week’s meetings among the envoys also marked the first of its kind since Pak, previously the deputy U.S. nuclear envoy, took over the post from Sung Kim, with the new title of “senior official for the DPRK.”

Source: Yonhap News Agency