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U.S., China to discuss N. Korean missiles and THAAD

Posted August. 31, 2016 07:13,   

Updated August. 31, 2016 07:40

한국어
U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have a summit in Hangzhou, China on Saturday. They two leaders are likely to discuss North Korea’s recent provocations including the launch of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and bilateral conflicts over the deployment of THAAD on the Korean Peninsula.

"We'll be able to review the progress we've made on climate change and our shared concerns about the situation on the Korean Peninsula," Obama's deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said in a briefing at the White House on Monday (local time). "As long as North Korea develops its ballistic missile capabilities and progress its nuclear weapon development plan, we (the U.S.) have obligations and responsibilities to take steps to respond to threats faced by our allies – Japan and South Korea.” He implied that President Obama would stress the necessity of the deployment of THAAD on the peninsula. As the two summits disagreed over the deployment of THAAD during a meeting at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington in March, this upcoming summit is likely to be a milestone deciding whether tensions around the peninsula will continue or not after the THAAD deployment plan is decided.

The U.S. government is confirmed to have recently submitted a strategic report to improve North Korean human rights to the Congress, as a follow-up of its North Korean human rights report released last month. The report will be used to block the inflow of money into North Korea by stating some 20 countries where North Korean laborers stay.



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