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US, Japan, South Korea Want to Pressure North Korea on Nuclear Program

by VOA News

   Senior U.S., Japanese and South Korean officials agreed Thursday to
   increase their efforts to push North Korea to give up its nuclear
   program.

   "North Korea's current security risk has now entered a new level of
   threat," said Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama. "I
   think we need different measures that can deal with it accordingly.

   He spoke in Tokyo where he met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
   Antony Blinken and South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Lim
   Sung-nam.

   The three nations were part of six-party talks that stalled when North
   Korea withdrew from the negotiations in 2009.

   "Our policy has not changed," Blinken said. "We will not accept North
   Korea as a nuclear state. We will not accept North Korea's possession
   of nuclear weapons, period."

   He added that the goal is to bring North Korea back to the negotiating
   table for "good faith" talks.

   Earlier this week, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper
   told the Council on Foreign Relations that getting North Korean to
   agree to give up its nuclear program is "probably a lost cause." He
   said the best that can be hoped for is an agreement that caps North
   Korea's nuclear capabilities.

   The North Korean government has so far rejected attempts to bring it
   into compliance with a number of United Nations Security Council
   resolutions imposed because of its nuclear activity. This year it has
   conducted two underground nuclear tests as well as nearly two dozen
   missile tests.