A senior White House official said North Korea continued to pursue military capabilities that threaten the Korean peninsula. He has repeatedly underlined his willingness to dialogue with North Korea without preconditions and has urged it to resume denuclearization negotiations. This was reported by journalist Jo Sang-jin.
“President Kim Jong-un continues to pursue military capabilities that pose a threat to the region and the Korean peninsula, our allies and partners, and our national security interests,” the Security Council’s strategic communications coordinator said on the 16th. White House national, John Kirby.
[녹취: 커비 조정관] “Mr. Kim continues to pursue military capabilities that pose a threat to the region, to the peninsula, to our allies and partners, to our national security interests. That is why we will continue to work with Japan and South Korea, And that is why we will continue our force presence and our exercises and training on the peninsula and in the region. And that is why we have been working to improve our intelligence gathering capabilities in and around the Korean peninsula.” .
In an online briefing that day, Kirby said in response to a request for comment about North Korea’s claim that it has successfully tested a high-performance rocket engine for developing a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
“This is why we have continued to work with Japan and South Korea, continue our presence, exercises and training on the Korean Peninsula and the region, and strive to improve our intelligence gathering capabilities in and outside the Korean Peninsula”.
At the same time, he has repeatedly stressed his current stance of openness to dialogue with North Korea, saying, “We reiterate our proposal to sit down with President Kim without preconditions.”
[녹취: 커비 조정관] “We reiterate once again our offer to sit down with Mr. Kim without preconditions. We urge him to accept that offer without preconditions so that we can try to find a diplomatic path towards the denuclearization of the peninsula.”
Kirby added, “We urge him (Kim Jong-un) to accept the offer again, unconditionally, so we can find a diplomatic path toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”
Earlier, North Korea’s foreign state-run “Chosun Central News Agency” and the official Labor Party newspaper “Rodong Sinmun” reported that a major research institute of the Academy of Defense Sciences had successfully conducted on the 16th the first ground ejection test of a solid fuel engine with a thrust force of 140t at the Seohae Satellite Launch Station on the morning of the 15th. reported to have been carried out.
In particular, stating that President Kim Jong-un led the test on the spot, he highly praised President Kim for solving one of the five priority tasks in the strategic weapons sector of the Five-Year Plan for the Development of National Defense Science and the development of the weapon system presented by the 8th Party Congress, stating that they look forward to the emergence of another new strategic weapon.
Meanwhile, coordinator Kirby mentioned North Korea and Iran during that day’s briefing, expressing concern about Russia’s continued military cooperation with other countries.
When asked whether Russia’s pursuit of arms support from North Korea and Iran would lead to increased tensions, Kirby said: “The questioner mentioned North Korea, but I said last week that I was particularly concerned about the deepening of relations between Russia and Iran.” .
He stressed that this not only heralds an escalation of the war in Ukraine, but also fears that it could spread to other parts of the world, including the Middle East.
This is VOA News Cho Sang-jin.
