Clicky
World

Biden says any Kim meeting would depend on sincerity


By AFP
Published : 21 May 2022 09:02 PM

US President Joe Biden said Saturday that any potential meeting with North Korea's leader would depend on whether Kim Jong Un was "sincere".

Biden, who is in Seoul for his first trip to Asia as president, told a joint  press conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol that a meeting  with Kim "would depend on whether he was sincere".

Biden's predecessor Donald Trump met Kim for a round of high-profile  diplomacy, but talks collapsed in 2019. 

Kim has since doubled down on his programme of military modernisation, and 

Pyongyang has conducted a blitz of sanctions-busting weapons tests this year,  including firing an intercontinental ballistic missile at full range.

Biden's Asia tour, aiming to shore up economic and security ties with  regional allies, has been overshadowed by the threat of a North Korea weapons  test.

The United States and South Korea have been warning for weeks that the North  could carry out a nuclear test any day, and Washington said it could even  come while Biden is in the region.

The two leaders on Saturday announced they would look at ramping up joint  military exercises -- something that always infuriates North Korea, which  views them as rehearsals for an invasion.

"We also discussed whether we'd need to come up with various types of joint  drills in case of a nuclear attack," Yoon said.