A senior U.S. diplomat responsible for denuclearization efforts on the Korean Peninsula indicated Monday in Tokyo that North Korea faces additional sanctions if it does not demonstrate willingness to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
Glyn Davies, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, also confirmed with Junichi Ihara, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, plans to ramp up pressure on the North in concert with South Korea and China to stop its nuclear and missile activities.
The meeting between the Japanese and U.S. diplomats comes as China seeks to resume denuclearization talks on North Korea, which have been suspended for about five years.
"If we do not see signs of North Korean sincerity, if they do not act, demonstrate that they understand they must fulfill their obligations, give up their nuclear weapons, then there's more pressure that will be brought to bear on them," Davies told reporters after the meeting.
"I believe that our visit here today and the talks that I've had in Tokyo today demonstrate our close collaboration on North Korea," he said, adding Japan and the United States are "in complete agreement, complete synch" about the North Korean nuclear issue.
Japan, the United States and South Korea, which have formed the so-called six-party talks with North Korea, China and Russia to end the North's nuclear ambitions, have taken the position that Pyongyang must show concrete action toward denuclearization.
Davies visited China and South Korea before coming to Japan, the final leg of his three-country trip. In China, he met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Wu Dawei, China's special representative for Korean Peninsula affairs who chairs the six-party framework.
Kyodo