Yoon wants China to help deter North nukes push
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol warned of an unprecedented joint response with allies if North Korea goes ahead with a nuclear test, and urged China to help dissuade the North from pursuing banned development of nuclear weapons and missiles.
In a wide-ranging interview, Yoon called on China, North Korea’s closest ally, to fulfil its responsibilities as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. He said not doing so would lead to an influx of military assets to the region.
“What is sure is that China has the capability to influence North Korea, and China has the responsibility to engage in the process,” Yoon said. It was up to Beijing to decide whether it would exert that influence for peace and stability, he added.
North Korea’s actions were leading to increased defence spending in countries around the region, including Japan, and more deployment of American warplanes and ships, Yoon noted.
It was in China’s interest to make its “best efforts” to induce North Korea to denuclearise, he said.
When asked what South Korea and its allies, the United States and Japan, would do if North Korea conducted a new nuclear test, Yoon said the response “will be something that has not been seen before”, declining to elaborate.
“It would be extremely unwise for North Korea to conduct a seventh nuclear test,” he said.
Amid a record year for missile tests, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said this week his country intended to have the world’s most powerful nuclear force. South Korean and US officials say Pyongyang may be preparing to resume testing nuclear bombs for the first time since 2017.
North Korea’s tests overshadowed multiple gatherings of international leaders this month, including the Group of 20 conference in Bali, where Yoon pressed President Xi Jinping to do more to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations.
Xi urged Seoul to improve relations with Pyongyang.
Before the G20, US President Joe Biden told Xi Beijing had an obligation to attempt to talk North Korea out of conducting a seventh nuclear test, although he said it was unclear whether China had the ability to do so.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said before the meeting Biden would warn Xi that North Korea’s continued pursuit of weapons development would lead to an enhanced US military presence in the region, something Beijing is not keen to see.
South Korea and the US have agreed to deploy more US “strategic assets” such as aircraft carriers and long-range bombers to the area, but Yoon said he did not expect changes to the 28,500 American ground forces stationed in South Korea.
“We must respond consistently, and in lockstep with each other,” Yoon said, blaming a lack of consistency in the international response for the failure of three decades of North Korea policy.
Like his predecessor, Moon Jae-in, Yoon has been treading cautiously amid rising US-China rivalry. China is South Korea’s largest trading partner, as well as a close partner of North Korea.