The United States, South Korea and Japan reaffirmed their commitment to the “complete denuclearisation” of North Korea on Saturday (October 31, 2026), as Pyongyang continues to reject disarmament ahead of possible talks with Washington.
Speculation is mounting over a potential meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at next month’s APEC summit in China, with Mr. Trump making repeated overtures to Pyongyang for nuclear talks. U.S. South Korea’s dovish President Lee Jae Myung — who has repeatedly offered Pyongyang talks without preconditions — suggested in September that Washington seek a freeze, rather than the immediate elimination, of the North’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief. Analysts say China may also be moving towards tacit acceptance, pointing to the omission of North Korean denuclearisation from statements after Mr. Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in June.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi “reaffirmed their resolute commitment to the complete denuclearisation” of North Korea during talks on Friday (October 30) on the sidelines of a Group of 20 (G20) meeting in Atlanta in the U.S. state of Georgia, the U.S. State Department said. Critics have said such an approach risks tacitly accepting North Korea as a nuclear-armed state while allowing Pyongyang to win sanctions relief without giving up its arsenal. Pyongyang denounced a joint statement on Saturday (October 31) by a group of nations monitoring sanctions implementations against it, vowing that “the stereotyped sanctions racket of the U.S. and the West can neither influence the position of the DPRK [North Korea] as a nuclear weapons state”.
