1. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, who is on a visit to the Philippines to attend ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ meetings, including the ASEAN Regional Forum, had a work lunch meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono on August 7.

o The ROK-US-Japan Foreign Ministers’ meeting was hosted by Foreign Minister Kang. Minister Kang and her US and Japanese counterparts attached special significance to the meeting, as it marked their first meeting since the inauguration of the new Foreign Ministers of the ROK and Japan.

2. The Ministers and the Secretary said that the meeting, which followed the trilateral summit held on the sidelines of the G20 immediately after North Korea’s ballistic missile launch on July 4, was very timely as it came after the adoption of the new Security Council resolution on North Korea on the sidelines of the only high-level regional security forum joined by North Korea amid the graver situation in the region due to North Korea’s another provocation on July 28.

o The three sides agreed to continue to strengthen close communications among them, as the leaders of the three countries, in their latest meeting, fully agreed on the importance of cooperation among the three countries to respond to the North Korean nuclear threat.

3. The three sides shared the view that North Korea’s two ballistic missile tests last month showed significant advances in North Korea’s development of nuclear and missile capabilities, and discussed concrete ways to work together to deter North Korea’s additional provocation and induce the North to denuclearize.

o In particular, the three sides welcomed the UN Security Council’s unanimous adoption of Resolution 2371 containing strong sanctions against North Korea, and agreed to closely cooperate to make sure that the entire international community faithfully implements the resolution.

o The three sides noted that as demonstrated by ASEAN’s adoption of a separate statement on the Korean Peninsula on the sidelines of this year’s ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ meetings, the international community’s perception about the severity of North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats has changed significantly, and expected that the ASEAN-related meetings will help strengthen the efforts of the international community, including ASEAN member states, to induce North Korea to denuclearize.

o The three sides also reaffirmed that achieving North Korea’s complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization through peaceful means is the three countries’ unchanging goal, and exchanged views on ways to induce North Korea to take the path towards denuclearization.

- They shared the view that creating conditions for serious denuclearization talks by pressuring North Korea to change its attitude through the continued strengthening of sanctions against the North will help solve the North Korean nuclear problem, and ultimately contribute to not only regional peace and stability but also the security of countries concerned.

4. The three sides agreed that close cooperation and coordination among the ROK, the US and Japan are essential to resolve the North Korean nuclear and missile issue, and decided to continue strategic communications at various international meetings to be held.


* unofficial translation