1. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se held a telephone conversation with Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China on September 13 to share with each other their respective assessments of the current situation triggered by North Korea’s fifth nuclear test and to discuss ways to address it.

2. Minister Yun, calling North Korea’s recent nuclear test an unprecedentedly grave provocation in terms of its strength and interval, mentioned the need for the international community to respond differently to the qualitatively different threat from North Korea.

° Minister Yun pointed out that North Korea is undermining the UN and the Security Council’s authority by repeatedly and flagrantly violating Security Council resolutions. He stressed that the Security Council, which had issued a press statement on the heels of North Korea’s fifth nuclear test, should draw up a strong sanctions resolution as soon as possible in order to make North Korea pay a high price for its bad actions and to deter its further provocations.

° Minister Yun, taking note of high-level Chinese officials’ firm non-tolerance for a nuclear North Korea and the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s adamant opposition to North Korea’s nuclear test, proposed that the permanent missions of the Republic of Korea and China to the UN work closely together for the shared position of the ROK and China to be fully reflected in the UN Security Council’s new sanctions resolution on North Korea.

3. Minister Wang mentioned that North Korea’s fifth nuclear test constitutes a violation of Security Council resolutions and undermines peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. He added that a new Security Council sanctions resolution should be adopted to block North Korea’s nuclear and missile development through stricter measures against North Korea.

° The Minister stated that China will fulfill its obligations, including by complying with Security Council resolutions thoroughly and across the board, adding that China remains unchanged in its opposition to North Korea’s nuclear and missile development.

4. The two Ministers agreed to continue strategic communication and cooperation at various levels on North Korean nuclear issue and ways to address it, as well as to have the two countries’ head delegates to the Six-Party Talks hold a meeting as soon as possible to follow up on their own.

5. Following their discussion on the North Korean nuclear issue, Ministers Yun and Wang briefly exchanged views on the two countries’ basic positions on the envisioned deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and agreed to remain in communication on the matter as well.


* unofficial translation