HAMBURG -- The leaders of South Korea, the US, and Japan shared the view that stronger sanctions are needed in order to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and to bring the communist regime back to the negotiating table.

President Moon Jae-in met with US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Hamburg on Thursday on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit to run on Friday-Saturday in the German port city.

The trilateral summit, held at the US Consulate General over dinner, was Moon’s first official event since arriving in Hamburg after his initial two-day stay in capital Berlin.

“Today’s summit dinner served as an opportunity for the three states to reconfirm their will for cooperation concerning North Korea’s nuclear, based on the momentum of the successful Korea-US summit last week,” Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said in a briefing.

Attending the event alongside Moon were Kang, Deputy Prime Minister for economic affairs Kim Dong-yeon and National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong.

“The trilateral summit dinner came in the wake of the United Nations Security Council’s urgent meeting concerning North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile,” Kang explained.

“Sharing the view that a joint response is needed, the three leaders spent most of their time on North Korea and its nuclear problem.”

The reclusive regime launched another missile on Tuesday, the day before Moon set out for Germany, and touted it as an intercontinental ballistic missile which could hit the US mainland.

“The three summits agreed that a priority issue is to deter the North’s further advancement in loading nuclear warheads on missiles,” Kang said.

Seeking to increase pressure upon the North Korean regime and its leader Kim Jong-un, the three counterparts agreed that a stronger UN Security Council resolution should be adopted on the issue.

The US proposed a UNSC resolution as part of “significant measures” against the North’s ICBM launch but was met with opposition from Russia, according to AP. China, a key ally to North Korea, has not officially voiced its complaint.

Expressing regret at what they saw as connivance of North Korean nuclear development, the three countries in Thursday's meeting called for China and Russia to take more active roles.

President Moon sat in a bilateral summit with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping earlier in the day in Berlin and is set to meet with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday afternoon.

Trump and Abe are also expected to respectively attend a bilateral meeting with the Chinese leader during the two-day G-20 summit period.

As for the burgeoning concerns on possible military clashes, however, the foreign minister denied, reiterating the president’s remark on a gradual, peaceful road map.

“The US called for a ‘peaceful pressure campaign’ which means that a peaceful solution may prevent the introduction of military options,” Kang said.

What the three summits, especially the US, did have in mind was the possibility of additional financial pressure upon the reclusive regime.

President Trump also mentioned that the US is working on increasing the level of financial sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals that hold illicit transactions with North Korea, according to a senior government official who attended the trilateral summit.

The three-party summit was confirmed last Thursday, during Moon's visit to Washington for his bilateral summit with Trump.


By Bae Hyun-jung
Korea Herald correspondent
(tellme@heraldcorp.com)