Kerry: Ramp up pressure on North Korea
US Secretary of State John Kerry says the international community should put further pressure on the North Korean government over the country’s nuclear program.
North Korea “continues to pursue nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, it continues to break promises and make threats, and it continues to show flagrant disregard for international laws,” Kerry said during a joint news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se in Seoul on Monday.
"That is why it is important for us to ramp up international pressure for North Korea to change its behavior," he added.
The top US diplomat told reporters that Washington continued to offer the chance for an improved relationship with Pyongyang, but "all they are doing now is isolating themselves further and creating greater risks to the region and to their own country."
He said Washington remained open to talks but only if the country has “some indication from the leader of North Korea that they are serious about engaging on the subject of their nuclear program."
Pyongyang is already under heavy sanctions imposed by the US and the United Nations for its missile and nuclear tests.
North Korea’s nuclear negotiations with Russia, China, the US, Japan, and South Korea started in 2003 but were brought to a halt in 2009, when Pyongyang walked out in protest against a new round of UN sanctions following its nuclear tests.
North Korea says it will not relinquish its nuclear deterrence unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward Pyongyang.
In March, the US military held war games along with South Korea aimed at improving the combined forces' operation and combat capabilities against North Korea.
The exercise mobilized about 200,000 Korean and 3,700 American troops and involved a set of land, sea and air maneuvers as originally planned. The two-week military exercise ended in mid-March.
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