HONOLULU: US Sec­retary of State Antony Blin­ken met his Japanese and South Korean counterparts on Saturday in Hawaii to discuss the threat posed by nuclear-armed North Korea after Pyongyang began the year with a series of missile tests.

Blinken said at a news conference after the meeting that North Korea was in a phase of provocation and the three countries condemned the recent missile launches.

We are absolutely united in our approach, in our determination, Blinken said after his talks with Japanese Fore­ign Minister Yoshimasa Hay­ashi and South Korean Fore­ign Minister Chung Eui-yong.

The three released a joint statement calling on North Korea to engage in dialogue and cease its unlawful activities. They said they had no hostile intent towards North Korea and were open to meeting Pyongyang without preconditions.

Some experts say North Korea is using the weapons tests to put pressure on President Joe Biden’s administration to resume long-stalled nuclear negotiations as the pandemic puts further strain on an economy already battered by decades of mismanagement and crippling US-led sanctions.

The Biden administration has offered North Korea open-ended talks but has shown no willingness to ease the sanctions without meaningful cuts to the country’s nuclear programme.

North Korea has rebuffed US offers to resume diplomacy, saying it wont return to talks unless Washington drops what it says are hostile polices. The North bristles at both the sanctions and regular military exercises the US holds with South Korea.

The tests also have a technical component, allowing North Korea to hone its weapons arsenal. One of the missiles recently tested the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile is capable of reaching the US territory of Guam.

It was the longest-distance weapon the North has tested since 2017.

North Korea appears to be pausing its tests during the Winter Olympics in China, its most important ally and economic lifeline. But analysts believe North Korea will dramatically increase its weapons testing after the Olympics.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2022