Canada-US meet over North Korea to take place in Vancouver
Ottawa/Washington, Dec 20 (IBNS): Canada and the US will hold a joint meeting in Vancouver over an unpredictable behaviour of North Korea, media reports said.
The announcement has been made by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.
The meeting will be held on Jan 16, 2018.
The top diplomats of both the US and Canada told media that most of the nations who fought in 1950-1953 Korean war have been invited to be present in the meeting.
Tillerson was quoted by CBC News: "We continue to find ways to advance the pressure campaign against North Korea, and send a unified message from the international community: 'We will not accept you as a nuclear weapons nations.
"We share one goal, full and complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," he added.
Tillerson even said the meeting will be a way of giving North Korea a message that other nations are prepared to participate in discussions. "We can't talk unless North Korea is ready to talk. We're waiting for them to indicate a readiness to talk — this pressure campaign will not abate. We will not be rolling any of it back."
Canada is aiming to start the dialogue between six nations- South Korea, North Korea, the U.S., China, Japan, Russia- through this meet.
Freeland told reporters: "This is another visible sign that the international community is acting in concert to speak to the government of North Korea and to say this is threatening us all and the pressure will increase until the behaviour changes."
However, the US' approach to North Korea was much different as President Donald Trump had earlier threatened to launch military strikes on North Korea if behaviour doesn't improve.
On the difference in approach between the US and Canada, Tillerson said he is presenting a united front along with the White House.
(Reporting by Suman Das)
Image: twitter.com/cafreeland
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