Harris, Yoon denounce North Korean missile test

PANMUNJOM: US Vice President Kamala Harris said North Korea is a country with a “brutal dictatorship,” an illegal arms programme and rampant human rights violations, issuing unusually strong criticism during a visit to the inter-korean border on Thursday.

Harris, in her first visit to the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, said the heavily armed border area offered a stark reminder of the “dramatically different paths” the two sides have taken.

“In the North, we see a brutal dictatorship, rampant human rights violations and an unlawful weapons programme that threatens peace and stability,” Harris said.

“The United States and the world seek a stable and peaceful Korean peninsula where the DPRK is no longer a threat,” she said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Harris was in the DMZ ater arriving in the South Korean capital, Seoul, early on Thursday amid simmering regional tension over North Korea’s missile launches and China’s actions in the Taiwan Strait.

The visit by Harris to staunch US ally South Korea comes amid fears that North Korea is about to conduct a nuclear test. South Korean officials say North Korea has completed preparations for what would be its seventh nuclear test since 2006, and its first since 2017.

Harris and South Korean President Yoon Sukyeol held talks and condemned North Korea’s intensifying nuclear rhetoric and a series of missile tests, the latest of which was conducted on Wednesday.

“They condemned the DPRK’S provocative nuclear rhetoric and ballistic missile launches,” a White House statement said.

“They discussed our response to potential future provocations, including through trilateral cooperation with Japan.”

Harris and Yoon reaffirmed a shared goal of the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, the White House said.

Harris also reaffirmed a Us-extended deterrence commitment to its Asian ally, including “the full range of US defence capabilities,” it added.

Yoon’s office said that if the North pushed ahead with serious provocations like a nuclear test, he and Harris had agreed to immediately implement “jointly prepared countermeasures.” It did not elaborate.

North Korea codified its right to use pre-emptive nuclear strikes in a new law early this month.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said it is developing nuclear weapons and missiles to defend against US threats.