Quad leaders slam North Korean missile threats, reaffirm goal of denuclearization

Top North Korean diplomat blames US’ alliance-based security policy for tensions in region

North Korean top diplomat Choe Son-hui (left) shakes hands with Aleksandr Matsegora, the Russian envoy to North Korea, as she leaves for the fourth Eurasian Women’s Forum held in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Yonhap)

The leaders of the US, Japan, Australia and India on Saturday condemned North Korea’s ballistic missile launches and nuclear pursuits, while reaffirming their commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

“We condemn North Korea’s destabilizing ballistic missile launches and its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” the leaders said in a statement issued at the end of the summit.

“We reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula consistent with relevant UNSCRs and call on all countries to fully implement these UNSCRs.”

The latest meeting of the Quad -- the grouping of the US, Japan, Australia and India addressing security issues of the Indo-Pacific region -- was hosted by US President Joe Biden in his home state of Delaware.

Against the backdrop of the joint condemnation, North Korea’s top diplomat while on her Russia trip said the US and its allies were responsible for the security threats facing the Korean Peninsula

Choe Sun-hui, the North Korean foreign minister, was speaking at the fourth Eurasian Women’s Forum held in St. Petersburg, Russia, according to the North Korean Workers’ Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Sunday.

She said the security environment surrounding the Korean Peninsula is “stuck in a vicious cycle of escalating tensions and confrontation due to the exclusive alliance system the US and some countries that worship the US are together building.”

With the message conveyed by its foreign minister visiting Russia, North Korea is “pushing back against US-led security structures,” former South Korean envoy to Russia and Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Wi Sung-lac told The Korea Herald on Sunday.

“Russia and North Korea have lashed multilateral security cooperation arrangements led by the US. The Quad summit is certainly one of them, as is the Camp David pact of South Korea, the US and Japan,” the South Korean lawmaker said.

On Choe calling for “a multipolar world ... to end the dominance of the US and its allies that are responsible for the geopolitical crises facing this century,” Wi said North Korea was “attributing what it perceives as a bipolar world order to the US’ alliance-based approach to security.”

“The North Korean foreign minister is saying Pyongyang and Moscow need to counter the cooperation of the West with the US at the center, and blaming the bipolar world order on these US efforts,” he said.

When Choe expressed support for Russia’s “crusade for justice” in the context of the war in Ukraine, she was “reiterating the constantly reinforced position of Russia as the North Korean foreign minister,” he said.

In a display of friendship with another main diplomatic ally in China, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un responded to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s message congratulating the country on the 76th anniversary of its founding, Rodong Sinmun reported Sunday.

“I express my sincere gratitude for his heartfelt congratulations on the occasion of the 76th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” the North Korean leader was quoted as having said in his reply dated Sept. 16, using the North's formal name.

By Kim Arin(arin@heraldcorp.com)