UN chief expresses full support for US-Japan dialogue with N Korea

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he welcomes the ongoing talks between the US and North Korea to achieve total denuclearization and also supported the Japanese initiative of dialogue with Pyongyang.

"As Secretary-General of the United Nations, I am obviously totally committed to the implementation of all relevant Security Council resolutions on North Korea," he told reporters in Tokyo yesterday.

He said he fully supports the negotiations taking place between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with the objective that "we all share to see a total denuclearization that is verifiable, that is irreversible, to make sure that North Korea can be a normal member of the international community in this region."
He said that "the North Korea and the Iran situations are two central aspects of our concerns to make sure that we preserve non-proliferation, but also recognizing that non-proliferation needs to be accompanied by effective disarmament, progressive disarmament measures in the nuclear dimension. And, at the same time, the full implementation of the ban on chemical weapons and biological weapons."