That’s been the pattern for much of this year, despite North Korea testing dozens of missiles, including short-range weapons that are possibly nuclear-capable and intercontinental ballistic missiles that could target the US mainland. The United States and its two top Asian allies, however, are quietly working on the sidelines of this week’s Group of 20 meetings in Bali, Indonesia, to raise the issue of North Korea’s growing aggression and build a broader coalition of like-minded states. to help maintain international pressure on it. North Korea has struggled to gain the attention of world leaders consumed by the Ukraine war, sinking economies, the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China, climate change and tensions in the Middle East — all of which issues have taken up much of the bandwidth during the G-20. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are trying to change that, urging action in their private talks with other leaders this week. Both had intensive discussions on North Korea in a tripartite meeting with US President Joe Biden ahead of the G-20. Concerns about North Korea were also raised in high-profile talks between Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Bali, according to the US president. South Korean officials say North Korea may in the coming weeks detonate its first nuclear test device since 2017. It will be aimed at forcing the United States and others to accept the idea of North Korea as a nuclear power, which could allow it to negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength. The United States has also accused North Korea of supplying ammunition to replenish depleted Russian stockpiles in Ukraine. North Korea has denied these claims. After Biden met with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts, the leaders set the right tone for the strength of their cooperation in the face of North Korea’s weapons tests, said Sung-Yoon Lee, a North Korea expert at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law. . and Diplomacy. However, he said, it leaves allies open to more North Korean provocations, with North Korea “prone to using rhetorical criticism or defensive military exercises by its adversaries as a pretext for escalation.” Kishida, the Japanese leader, discussed North Korea in his bilateral talks in Bali, including with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday, with whom he shared “serious concern over North Korea’s nuclear and missile problems ” and agreed to work closely with the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The issue will also be critical for the South Korean leader as he tries to urge world leaders in Bali to step up international pressure on North Korea. Yoon’s diplomacy comes as a rift deepens in the UN Security Council over the war in Ukraine. That, in turn, complicates international efforts to impose sanctions and pressure North Korea over its nuclear ambitions. North Korea used the distraction created by the war to increase its weapons launches. Russia and China, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, rejected a US-led proposal to strengthen sanctions on North Korea over its recent missile test activity. North Korea’s next nuclear test, which will be its seventh since 2006, could be the first that the Security Council fails to meet with meaningful punitive measures. The G-20 meeting is an opportunity for Yun to inform world leaders that North Korea’s fast-growing nuclear threat extends far beyond the Korean Peninsula, said Bong Young-sik, an analyst at Seoul’s Yonsei University. That message was made clear to Japan, which saw an intermediate-range missile fly over its soil in September in one of North Korea’s most provocative tests in years. South Korea has been trying to take a more assertive role in international affairs, and Yoon promised to embrace many of Biden’s policies on Asia during his presidential campaign. That, however, could complicate South Korea’s relations with China, its biggest trading partner, as tensions between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan, human rights and industrial supply chains intensify. Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, never one to hesitate to use his weapons to air grievances on the world stage — and to unsettle his rivals — may resume weapons tests in the coming weeks. “I would think that Kim Jong Un would be sharpening his knife right now and would be happy to take advantage of both Yoon and Kishida being away from home, at the very least by launching more missiles into (South Korean) waters,” Lee said, the Tufts. professor. “Kim Jong Un may be thinking, ‘Never let an opportunity to create an internal crisis for my enemies go to waste,’” Lee said.
Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea. Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.
