Just a day before top diplomatic and military officials of the United States and the Republic of Korea met for talks in Washington, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the DPRK, tested its newest and strongest intercontinental ballistic missile to date.
The launch was strongly condemned by the United States and its allies. In a joint statement, the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea called on the DPRK “to immediately cease its series of provocative and destabilizing actions.”
At a press briefing after the talks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted that the United States is closely consulting with the Republic of Korea, known as the ROK, and Japan about actions to take in response to the DPRK’s provocative missile activity.
He pointed out that with its new military alliance with Russia, the DPRK is also posing a danger to Euro-Atlantic security.
“We now assess that there are some 10,000 North Korean soldiers in total in Russia. And … recent information indicates that as many as 8,000 of those North Korean forces have been deployed to the Kursk region. We’ve not yet seen these troops deploy into combat against Ukrainian forces, but we would expect that to happen in the coming days,” said Secretary Blinken. “Should these troops engage in combat or combat support operations against Ukraine, they would become legitimate military targets. … Our two sides today discussed a range of options in response and we’re closely coordinating with allies and partners, particularly our European partners.”
Secretary Blinken said that what has become clear is the “indivisibility of security between the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic theaters.” He praised the ROK’s growing partnership with NATO, and its humanitarian assistance for Ukraine.
“We agreed that China should do more to curb the DPRK’s provocative actions and to stop support for Russia’s defense industrial base, which is helping to perpetuate the conflict and the aggression by Russia in Ukraine.”
“Even as we addressed these security challenges, we’re also working together to expand our economic cooperation,” Secretary Blinken said. “Together [the United States and the Republic of Korea] are advancing a shared economic vision for the Indo-Pacific and actually for the world.”
Calling the ROK a “global, pivotal state,” Secretary Blinken said our two countries “are joined together in building a better, more secure, more prosperous future for all of our people.”
