The White House announced Monday that US President Joe Biden would not meet with North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un because his response to Pyongyang would be "very different."
Joe Biden won't meet with North Korea Leader Kim Jong-Un
President Joe Biden said at a press conference on Thursday that if the North escalates tensions in the aftermath of its recent missile tests, the US will act appropriately and that he is also prepared to engage in diplomacy. In response to a question about whether Biden's diplomacy involves sitting with North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, "I think his approach would be quite different, and that is not his intention."
Psaki's statements reaffirmed Biden's desire to take a different approach than former President Donald Trump. The former President wanted denuclearization advancement from Pyongyang by direct leader-to-leader interaction, as per Korea Times.
Biden expressed openness to negotiations with North Korea at a press conference on Thursday but stressed that "it needs to be conditional on the end result of denuclearization." After National Security Advisor Suh Hoon and his US and Japanese counterparts, Jake Sullivan and Shigeru Kitamura, meet in Washington this week for talks on a structured regime approach. The US is scheduled to conclude its analysis of policy on the North.
North Korea threatens US with 'invincible physical power'
North Korea said on Saturday that the Biden administration had made a mistake by condemning its latest missile launch, showing 'deep-seated hostility.' According to Daily Mail, North Korea announced that it had launched a new tactical short-range ballistic missile on Friday.
President Joe Biden said the test violated UN Security Council resolutions, but he stayed open to diplomacy with Pyongyang. According to Ri Pyong Chol, secretary of the North's ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, the drill was self-defensive against threats faced by joint military exercises and advanced missiles by South Korea and the United States.
Biden's comments were an "undisguised encroachment on our state's right to self-defense and provocation," he said, adding that if Washington proceeds to make "thoughtless remarks," it can face "anything that is not good." On a visit to Seoul with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged to denuclearize North Korea and condemn its 'systemic and pervasive' human rights violations.
North Korea has also slammed the recent military drills between South Korea and the United States. However, they were repeatedly cut down to allow for the revival of denuclearization talks with Pyongyang.
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US considers UN actions in response to North Korea missile tests
On Monday, the Biden administration said it is considering "additional actions" that the UN might take in response to North Korea's recent missile tests. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States' ambassador to the United Nations, did not elaborate on what such actions could mean.
But she acknowledged that the UN Security Council met last week and extended the experts who oversee North Korean sanctions. On Tuesday, the council is set to hold closed-door talks about North Korea.
The US and other Security Council members are considering further measures, according to Thomas-Greenfield. Meanwhile, as the administration finalizes analyzing how to handle North Korea, President Joe Biden's national security advisor Jake Sullivan will meet with his counterparts from Japan and South Korea in Washington soon to discuss North Korea's strategy.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who recently returned from Tokyo and Seoul, said that the three countries are working together to address problems posed by Pyongyang's problems. North Korea accused the UN of enforcing a "double standard" in its response to the launches, which are in breach of UN sanctions, and warned of serious consequences.
North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea last week, defying UN resolutions prohibiting such launches. According to some analysts, North Korea's missile tests were intended to put pressure on the Biden administration, at the initial of the year, South China Morning Post reported.
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