THE US President Joe Biden Seoul said today that it was “prepared” for a possible nuclear test by North Korea, but reiterated that it was open to dialogue with an unusual message to Kim Jong Un shortly before leaving for Japan.
«We are prepared for anything that North Korea can do“, He said, saying that”not worried»In the face of the possibility of a nuclear test.
When a reporter asked him if he had a message for him North Korean leader Kim Jong Unthe American president answered succinctly: “Good morning. Dot”.
It was a way to make it clear that Washington remains open to dialogue with North Korea, even in the absence of reciprocity. Talks with Pyongyang are at a dead end after the failure of a summit in 2019 between Kim and then US President Donald Trump.
Biden left South Korea for Japan todayanother major United States ally in the region and a second stop on his first tour of Asia as president.
In Seoul, he met with counterpart Yoon Sook-geol, a pro-US conservative who came to power in early May. The two presidents spoke of intensifying the joint military exercises of their countries in order to address the “threatening” of Kim Jong Un.
To counteract a “nuclear attack”
Yoon also spoke of US development in his country of “strategic means” to counter “a nuclear attack”. These instruments are expected to include “fighter jets and missiles, unlike in the past where we only think of a nuclear umbrella to preventHe clarified.
The development of such weapons or the intensification of joint military exercises could provoke the wrath of Pyongyang, which sees these military exercises as a general rehearsal for an invasion.
South Korean intelligence services have warned that North Korea has completed preparations for a nuclear test, the seventh in its history and the first in five years. It is not ruled out that this test will take place before the end of the US President’s visit to Asia.
An additional concern: North Korea, whose population has not been vaccinated against Covid-19, is currently experiencing an epidemic outbreak, with nearly 2.6 million positive diagnoses and 67 deaths, according to the latest official figures.
Democracies and authoritarian regimes
In an indication of US ambitions in the region, Biden spoke at a joint news conference with Yoon about “global competition between democracies and authoritarian regimes” and said that the Asia-Pacific region is, in this competition, an essential battlefield.
«We talked at length about the need to make sure that (this cooperation) is not limited to the United States, Japan and Korea, but encompasses the Pacific, South Pacific and Indian and Pacific Oceans as a whole. I think (this trip) is an opportunity“, Said Biden.
China is a major US adversary in this geopolitical battle.
Before leaving Seoulthe American president met the head of the car industry Hyundai to really celebrate the decision of the colossus to invest 5.5 billion dollars in a electric car factory in Georgia, southern USA.
He also visited US and South Korean troops with Yoon, indicating a “truly complete” economic and military alliance between the two countries, according to a senior White House official.
In Japan, he will meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Emperor Naruhito tomorrow, ahead of a Quad summit of a diplomatic corps involving the United States, Japan, India and Australia.
The American president is expected to present there a new American initiative for trade in the region.
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