Korea-Japan Senior Nuclear Envoys Meeting Discussed 'Yongbyon Reactor' and 'Missile Launch'

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] On the 13th, Noh Kyu-duk, Director General for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Takehiro Funakoshi, Director of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held a South Korea-Japan senior representative meeting on North Korea's nuclear issues in Tokyo, Japan, and discussed issues related to North Korea, including the restart of the Yongbyon reactor.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Director General Noh had departed for Tokyo the previous day to attend the South Korea-U.S.-Japan senior representative talks on North Korea's nuclear issues.

On the 14th, Director General Noh is scheduled to attend the trilateral talks with Sung Kim, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, and Director Funakoshi, followed by a South Korea-U.S. senior representative meeting on North Korea's nuclear issues.

During the South Korea-Japan meeting, it is reported that cooperation measures on North Korea's nuclear issues and humanitarian aid programs for North Korea, which have been discussed between South Korea and the U.S., were also discussed.

Before departure at Incheon International Airport, Director General Noh explained the agenda to be focused on in this consultation, saying, “I believe that starting dialogue with North Korea is the most important thing,” and added, “There has been significant progress in consultations for jointly promoting humanitarian cooperation projects for North Korea between South Korea and the U.S.”

He said, “We are continuing consultations on that and discussing various other ways to resume dialogue,” and added, “We plan to explain the considerable progress made in consultations between South Korea and the U.S. to the Japanese government to enhance understanding and also discuss cooperation measures with the Japanese government.”

Attention is also focused on whether South Korea and Japan will hold consultations regarding the new long-range cruise missile that North Korea claimed to have successfully test-fired on the same day.

Katsunobu Kato, Chief Cabinet Secretary and spokesperson for the Japanese government, stated at a regular press conference on the morning of the same day regarding North Korea’s cruise missile test launch, “If the missile flight of 1,500 km is true, it threatens peace and security in the region surrounding Japan,” and added, “We will closely cooperate with South Korea and the U.S. to collect necessary information, analyze it, and conduct surveillance and monitoring.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.