Senior US official stresses 'strong' ties with S. Korea, Japan over N. Korean threats

A senior US diplomat said Thursday South Korea, the United States and Japan already have "strong" security partnerships to address North Korean threats, following an academic proposal to consider a deterrence policy that signals the possibility of preemptive military action.

Bonnie Jenkins, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, made the remarks, a day after Victor Cha, senior vice president for Asia and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies made the proposal at a congressional hearing.

Cha noted the need to consider a "declaratory" policy to signal the capability of destroying a North Korean missile headed towards Japan, Hawaii or the US West Coast when it is on the launch pad or in other flight phases.

"I think I would just say that we have a very close relationship, strong discussions on the way in which we want to address North Korean threats and their intercontinental ballistic missiles and all the tests that they're doing," she said at a forum hosted by the Stimson Center.

Jenkins said she would not say a preemptive strike is "the way to go."

Asked to comment on North Korea moving away from denuclearization, she underscored the Biden administration's continued desire to reengage with the recalcitrant regime.

"We have made very clear on the desire to have conversations with North Korea on denuclearization ... we are not able to do a lot of that because you have to have somebody willing to sit down with you on the other side of the table," she said.

"Until we really have a willing participant on the other side that was to have this conversation, it makes it very complex to have a real discussion and negotiation on denuclearization. That's pretty much where we are," she added. (Yonhap)