Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated his call on DPRK to return to its commitment to fully denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and stressed that Tokyo, together with the governments of South Korea and China, expresses serious concern over the recent ballistic missile launches.
“The three countries (Japan, South Korea and China) share the view that the recent repeated launches of ballistic missiles are of serious concern. The three countries fully supported progress in the North Korea-U.S. negotiation process and unanimously believe that any provocative actions should be avoided at a time when this process has entered a critical phase”, – Abe said at a press conference following his meetings with Chinese State Council Prime Minister Li Keqiang and South Korean President Mun Jae-yin in Chengdu. The press conference was broadcast by the NHK television channel.
The Japanese prime minister added that “the sides share the position that joint actions are needed to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
“Japan fully supports the negotiation process between North Korea and the United States. We call on North Korea to return to its commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through peaceful dialogue”, – Abe added.
Negotiations on denuclearization between the DPRK and the U.S. reached an impasse after the North Korean delegation left the meeting place during the working negotiations in Sweden in October this year, claiming its failure because the U.S. came “empty-handed”. The American side, in turn, called the talks “good” with a number of new “creative ideas. After that, DPRK repeatedly gave an ultimatum that the U.S. should work out a “new decision” on denuclearization and provide DPRK with security guarantees by the end of the year, otherwise the negotiations will be terminated.