South Korea, US, Japan Reaffirm Goal of Complete Denuclearization of North Korea

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun of South Korea, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya's counterpart, Motegi Toshimitsu, held a trilateral foreign ministers' meeting in New York on the 21st (local time), where they reaffirmed the goal of the complete denuclearization of North Korea and issued a joint statement urging Pyongyang to return to dialogue. The three nations placed North Korea-related content at the very top of the joint statement. The ministers stated that they "reaffirmed their firm commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea and to preventing revenue-generating support for North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs." The statement noted, "We reaffirm that the door to dialogue remains open and urge North Korea to return to dialogue." It also added that the three countries welcomed the activities of the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), which investigates North Korea's violations of and evasion of UN Security Council resolutions.

Ahead of the US-China summit scheduled for the 24th, the three nations also sent a strategic message aimed at China. The statement declared, "We firmly oppose economic coercion and non-market policies and practices that cause harmful overcapacity and market distortions, including arbitrary export control measures that disrupt supply chains." On the issue of cross-strait relations, it stated, "We emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," and "encouraged the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues and opposed any unilateral attempts to change the status quo."

Regarding the South China Sea, the ministers' statement issued at last year's UN General Assembly in September directly mentioned the South China Sea, but this time the phrase was omitted, with the statement instead emphasizing support for freedom of navigation and overflight and the guarantee of lawful commercial activities in accordance with international law. While the direct reference to the South China Sea, which appeared in the September statement last year, was omitted this time, expressions of strategic messaging toward China related to supply chains and economic coercion were included.

The United States also reiterated its security commitments. The statement conveyed that the US "underscored its ironclad commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan and reaffirmed its extended deterrence commitment."

Economic security cooperation will also be expanded. The Foreign Ministry stated, "The three countries agreed to strengthen substantive cooperation in key and emerging technology sectors such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum, digital infrastructure, and biotechnology, while deepening coordination on protecting advanced technologies, diversifying and enhancing supply chain resilience, and responding to economic coercion." They also decided to pursue an implementation plan for the Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) to accelerate the deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs).

This statement reaffirmed the principle of the 'complete denuclearization of North Korea.' It was released on the 21st, just one day before the US-China summit scheduled for the 24th.