Senior diplomats of S. Korea, U.S. condemn N. Korea’s offensive rhetoric, provocative acts

Senior diplomats of South Korea and the United States have held talks in Washington and strongly denounced North Korea for raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula with offensive rhetoric and provocative acts, Seoul's foreign ministry said Saturday. Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell held the consultative meeting Friday (U.S. time) to discuss a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues, the ministry said. The two officials condemned North Korea's May 27 botched launch of a spy satellite as a violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, and Pyongyang's act of threatening peace and security on the Korean Peninsula with offensive rhetoric and behaviors, it added. "The two sides also agreed to thoroughly brace for and respond to the possibility of North Korea staging various forms of provocative acts, including its potential provocation in the Yellow Sea," the ministry said. They also assessed that the Seoul-Washington alliance has been evolving into such various areas as supply chains, economic security, advanced technologies and nuclear cooperation. Separately, Kim held trilateral talks with Campbell and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano in Virginia on Friday. In a joint statement issued after the talks, they "strongly" condemned North Korea's recent satellite and missile launches, and reaffirmed their commitment to the "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Source: Yonhap News Agency