S. Korea, U.S., Japan agree to block N. Korea access to financial system

The chief negotiators of the six-party talks from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan met in Seoul on Tuesday and urged North Korea to give up nuclear weapons and take a path toward change. The chief negotiators’ talks, which happened for the first time in six months after their gathering in Tokyo in June, drew attention since it is held in the wake of change of U.S. administrations, and passing of President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment bill.

Kim Hong-gyun, Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, had a three-way meeting with Joseph Yoon, head of the Office of Korean Affairs in the U.S. State Department, and Kenji Kanasugi, director-general of the Asia and Oceania bureau at the Japanese foreign affairs ministry, at a Seoul hotel on the day. “We strongly urge Pyongyang to wake up from the illusion of parallel development of economy and the military and of nuclear armament, and take the path of genuine change,” Kim said after the meeting.

“North Korea would be also paying keen attention, but we have not seen any signs of their moves at present. It is important that we levy costs on the North’s acts of provocation,” Yoon said, commenting on the situation in South Korea over the president’s impeachment, and the possibility of the North making a provocation during the transition of power in the U.S. “Regardless of whether it is the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, the U.S. has demanded Pyongyang’s denuclearization as the ultimate goal, and the new administration will also put forward a consistent stance on denuclearization," the U.S. diplomat also said.

South Korea, the U.S., and Japan have agreed that the governments of the three countries will put in place a system for constant information exchange in conjunction with the U.N. to ensure implementation and verification of measures to block funds from flowing into the North, including annual export cap on North Korean coal, which are included in the U.N. Resolution 2321 against Pyongyang.

Soong-Ho Cho shcho@donga.com