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AsiaSouth Korea: Kamala Harris will visit the DMZ
US Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the Korean Peninsula on Thursday during her trip to South Korea.
Kamala Harris in Tokyo on September 27, 2022.
AFP
The visit underscores “the United States’ commitment to any threat” posed by North Korea, a White House official said Tuesday.
The vice president will honor the “common sacrifice” of tens of thousands of American and Korean soldiers who fought together in the Korean War, which ended in a ceasefire that divided the peninsula in 1953, said he added.
The move to the DMZ could anger North Korea, which called Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi “the worst destroyer of international peace and stability” after her visit to the DMZ. early August.
Pyongyang also warned on Monday that South Korea and the United States risk starting a war after the two allies began their first combined naval drills in five years near the peninsula on Monday.
“Very symbolic demonstration”
Kamala Harris arrived in Japan on Monday, where she spoke with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of Shinzo Abe’s funeral on Tuesday in the presence of hundreds of other foreign dignitaries. South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo also met with Kamala Harris in Tokyo on Tuesday. He said his visit to the DMZ would provide “a very symbolic demonstration of (the United States’) strong commitments to security and peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
North Korea has been engaged in a record series of weapons tests for several months, while negotiations with the international community on its nuclear and missile program have stalled.
Pyongyang notably launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) since 2017 in May and adopted a new doctrine in early September proclaiming that the country would never give up atomic weapons.
South Korean and American officials have also been warning for months that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is preparing to conduct another nuclear test.
(AFP)