The United States pledges full military defense of its allies against North Korea

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Tuesday that the United States will use its full military capabilities, including nuclear, conventional and missile defense, to defend its allies Japan and South Korea. against escalating their provocations.

Sherman said the frequent shootings in North Korea Ballistic missiles and artillery in recent weeks have been provocative military operations. North Korea described it as managing to use tactical nuclear weapons.

“This is irresponsible, dangerous and destabilizing behavior,” Sherman said in talks in Tokyo with South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong. The two officials met before a trilateral meeting with their Japanese counterpart on Wednesday.

It will be the second in-person meeting of the three officials since conservative South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol took office in May, signaling an improvement in the difficult relations between Japan and South Korea. A year ago, the vice ministers of Japan and South Korea refused to participate in a joint press conference after tripartite talks in Washington, leaving Sherman to one-on-one media appearances.

Sherman said North Korea needs to understand that the United States’ commitment to the security of South Korea and Japan is “resolute.”

“And we will use the full range of American defense capabilities to defend our allies, including nuclear, conventional and missile defense capabilities,” she said.

Cho, during his talks with Sherman, raised concerns about the adoption of North Korea’s new nuclear weapons policy in September Increases the possibility of abusive use of nuclear weapons.

“This creates serious tension on the Korean peninsula,” Cho said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Sherman met with Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Takeo Mori and reiterated the strengthening of the Japan-US alliance and other common goals, including North Korea’s complete denuclearization and their joint response to China’s increasingly assertive actions in the region.

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada recently said that North Korea is believed to have achieved miniaturization of nuclear warheads while significantly developing its missile capabilities by diversifying launch technologies, making interceptions more difficult.

Japanese officials have also warned of the possibility of a North Korean nuclear test in the near future.

Japanese and South Korean officials met together later Tuesday and discussed ways to improve relations between their countries, which have been deeply strained by controversies stemming from Japan’s wartime actions, including the mistreatment of Korean forced laborers and the coercion of girls and young women to work in Japanese brothels. . Soldiers.

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This story corrects the name given to South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Cho to Hyeongdong, not Hyeongdong.