Status quo not an option for Korean Peninsula: S Korean foreign minister

Maintaining that the status quo is not an option when it comes to the Korean Peninsula, said Chung Eui-yong, South Korea's Foreign Minister, while urging the North to quickly return to dialogue.

The top South Korean diplomat also insisted maintaining the status quo would actually lead to greater instability not only on the Korean Peninsula but throughout Northeast Asia while having global implications, reports Yonhap News Agency.

"As I have repeatedly said publicly, maintaining status quo in the Korean Peninsula issues is not an option," Chung said while speaking with reporters in Honolulu.

"As time passes, North Korea's nuclear missile capability will continue to develop, and if that happens, the security conditions of the Korean Peninsula will worsen and that will lead to instability not only on the Korean Peninsula but in Northeast Asia and the entire world," he added.

Chung is currently on a visit to Hawaii for bilateral and trilateral talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi that will focus on ways to bring North Korea back to the discussion table.

His visit comes after a series of North Korean missile launches this year.

The US says the North fired nine ballistic missiles during seven rounds of missile tests in January, marking a record number of missile tests it conducted in a single month.

Pyongyang has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile testing since late 2017, but said in January that it may consider restarting all temporarily-suspended activities.

The North's missile launches in January included the firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile which was the longest-range missile launched by North Korea since November 2017.

Chung urged the North to refrain from further provocation and return to open discourse.

"Our government strongly urges North Korea not to translate its mention of possibly lifting the moratorium on testing into action and return to the dialogue table," the top South Korean diplomat said.

"I believe the North can come to dialogue and make any demands they may have to the US or us. (We) once again strongly urge North Korea to do so."

Seoul has been pushing for a formal declaration to the end to the Korean War as a way of restarting dialogue with the North.

Chung's talks with his US and Japanese counterparts are set to be held on Saturday.

--IANS

ksk/