Top security advisers of U.S., China meet over N. Korea, Russia
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, March 14 (Yonhap) -- U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met Monday with China's Yang Jiechi to discuss various current issues, including North Korea, a senior U.S. official said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the meeting was "intense" and seven-hours long.
"Obviously, we have serious concerns about the recent escalatory actions that we have seen from the DPRK," the official said in a telephonic press briefing, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"The national security advisor was clear with Director Yang not only about those concerns, but also about the steps that we believe are necessary in this moment and the work that we hope to be able to engage with China on," added the official.
The White House said the Sullivan-Yang meeting was held in Rome, Italy, mainly to discuss Russia's ongoing aggression on Ukraine. Yang is a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Community Party and director of the office of the foreign affairs commission.
This photo, released by the Korean Central News Agency on Feb. 28, 2022, shows an image of the Korean Peninsula taken by a camera attached on a projectile, launched by North Korea the previous day "for the development of a reconnaissance satellite." (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
The U.S. said Thursday that North Korea's two missile launches, staged Feb. 27 and March 5 (Seoul time), were aimed at testing a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system, also noting the recalcitrant country may conduct a full-fledged ICBM test in the future.
North Korea conducted nine rounds of missile tests since the start of the year, including seven in January that marked the largest number of missile launches it conducted in any single month.
U.S. Special Representative for the DPRK Sung Kim earlier called on China to condemn North Korea's missile provocations and help bring North Korea back to the dialogue table.
The senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Sullivan and Yang have agreed to continue their discussions, "building on recent discussions between our special representative Sung Kim and the Chinese special representative Liu Xiaoming in order to further discuss specific ways that the United States and China may be able to press the DPRK on a different path."
Pyongyang has avoided denuclearization talks since late 2019. It also remains unresponsive to recent U.S. overtures.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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