Exclusive: South Korea’s Yoon warns of unprecedented response to North Korean nuclear test, calls on China to do more

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By RockedBuzz 7 Min Read
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By Soyoung Kim, Jack Kim and Josh Smith

SEOUL (RockedBuzz via Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol warned of an unprecedented joint response with allies if North Korea proceeds with a nuclear test, and urged China to help dissuade the North from pursuing development banned of nuclear weapons and missiles.

In an extensive interview with RockedBuzz via Reuters on Monday, Yoon called on China, North Korea’s closest ally, to fulfill its responsibilities as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. He said not doing so would lead to an influx of military resources into the region.

“What is certain is that China has the ability to influence North Korea, and China has a responsibility to engage in the process,” Yoon said in his office. It was up to Beijing to decide whether to exert such influence for peace and stability, she added.

North Korea’s actions were leading to increased defense spending in countries in the region, including Japan, and an increased deployment of US aircraft and warships, Yoon noted.

It is in China’s interest to make its “best effort” to get North Korea to denuclearize, he said.

When asked what South Korea and its allies, the United States and Japan, would do if North Korea conducted a new nuclear test, Yoon said the answer “will be like nothing we’ve seen before,” but declined. to explain what this would entail. .

“It would be extremely unwise for North Korea to conduct a seventh nuclear test,” he told RockedBuzz via Reuters.

Amid a record year for missile tests, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said this week that his country intends to have the most powerful nuclear force in the world. South Korean and US officials say Pyongyang may be preparing to resume nuclear weapons tests for the first time since 2017.

North Korea’s tests have overshadowed several meetings of international leaders this month, including the Group of 20 conference in Bali, where Yoon pressed Chinese President Xi Jinping to do more to curb North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations. North Korea. Xi urged Seoul to improve relations with Pyongyang.

Ahead of the G20, US President Joe Biden told Xi Beijing has an obligation to try to get North Korea to opt out of a nuclear test, though he said it was unclear whether China could do so. . Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said before the meeting that Biden would warn Xi that North Korea’s continued weapons development would lead to an increased US military presence in the region, something Beijing is not eager to do. see.

South Korea and the United States have agreed to deploy more US “strategic assets” such as aircraft carriers and long-range bombers to the area, but Yoon said he did not expect any changes to the 28,500 US ground forces stationed in South Korea.

“We have to respond consistently and in lockstep with one another,” Yoon said, blaming the lack of coherence in the international response for the failure of three decades of North Korea’s policy.

China fought alongside the North in the Korean War of 1950-53 and has supported it economically and diplomatically ever since, but analysts say Beijing may have limited power, and perhaps little will, to curb Pyongyang. China says it is enforcing UN Security Council sanctions, which it voted for, but has since called for them to be eased and, together with Russia, has blocked US-led attempts to impose new sanctions.

OPPOSED TO CHANGE TO TAIWAN’S ‘STATUS QUO’

Strengthening ties and coordination with Washington is central to Yoon’s foreign policy, a focus evidenced by the main item on his desk: a sign reading “The Buck Stops Here,” a gift from Biden.

Like his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, Yoon has treaded cautiously amidst the growing US-China rivalry. China is South Korea’s largest trading partner, as well as a close partner of North Korea.

On the growing tensions between China and Taiwan, Yoon said that any conflict should be resolved according to international norms and rules.

Democratic Taiwan, which China claims as its own, has come under increasing military and political pressure from Beijing, which has said it will never renounce the use of force against the island.

“I strongly oppose any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo,” said Yoon.

When asked about a role in a Taiwan conflict for South Korea or US troops stationed there, Yoon said the country’s forces would “consider the overall security situation” but that their most pressing concern would be North Korean military attempts to take advantage of the situation.

“What is important is to respond to the imminent threat around us and to control the possible threat,” he said.

REGIONAL COOPERATION

Yoon also made growing cooperation with Japan a key goal, despite lingering legal and political disputes dating back to the 1910-1945 Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula.

South Korea, Japan and the United States have agreed to share real-time information to monitor North Korean ballistic missile tests.

As part of its largest military expansion since World War II, Japan is expected to procure new munitions, including long-range missiles, spend on cyber defenses, and create a combined air, sea, and land command headquarters that will work more closely together with US forces in Japan.

Japan’s military ambitions have long been a sensitive issue in neighboring countries, many of which were invaded before or during World War II.

Yoon’s predecessor halted many of the trilateral exercises and all but quit an intelligence-sharing deal with Tokyo as relations soured.

Now Japan faces increasing threats from North Korea’s missile program, including tests flying over Japanese home islands, Yoon said.

“I believe the Japanese government cannot sleep behind the wheel with North Korean missile flights over their territory,” he said.

(Reporting by Soyoung Kim, Jack Kim and Josh Smith; Writing by Josh Smith; Editing by Nick Macfie and Gerry Doyle)

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