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President Joe Biden is gathering South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for talks Friday amid heightened concerns about North Korea’s growing military partnership with Russia and Pyongyang’s stepped-up cadence of ballistic missile tests.
The meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru comes as North Korea has deployed thousands of troops to Russia to help Moscow try to claw back land in the Kursk border region that Ukraine seized earlier this year.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also ordered a series of ballistic missile tests in the lead-up to this month’s U.S. election and is claiming progress on efforts to build capability to strike the U.S. mainland.
White House officials are concerned that Pyongyang could be dialed up for more provocative action ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration and the early days of his administration.
“I do not think we can count on a period of quiet with the DPRK,” said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, using the initials for North Korea’s formal name. “The possibility of a seventh nuclear test remains ever present and something we’re vigilant for. The transitions have historically been time periods when the DPRK has taken provocative actions both before and after the transition from one president to a new president.”
Biden is on a six-day visit to Latin America for the final major international summits of his presidency, following up APEC with a gathering in Brazil of leaders from the Group of 20 top economies. He’s likely to face questions from world leaders about the incoming administration as they turn their attention to what Donald Trump’s return to the White House will mean for them.
