THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Acting U.S. Defense Secretary says N. Korea's test launch of short-range missiles was UNSC violation

U.S. Special Representative for North Korean Stephen Biegun will be in Singapore from Friday through Sunday to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue and meet with his counterparts from South Korea and Japan.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the U.S. State Department said Biegun will have talks with Seoul's top nuclear envoy Lee Do-hoon and their Japanese counterpart Kenji Kanasugi.

The State Department added the three side will discuss "continued coordination on their goal of the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea."



Acting U.S. defense chief Patrick Shanahan has stated that North Korea's latest test-firing of short-range projectiles into the East Sea this month was a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Shanahan stressed that what North Korea fired were indeed short-range ballistic missiles.

However during his joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he did not think the latest missile tests violated UN resolutions.

He also tweeted on Sunday local time that he was not disturbed by the regime's firing of what he called "some small weapons."

However Shanahan also stressed that the Trump administration aims to continue dialogue with the reclusive state while keeping sanctions and pressure in place. Washington's Ambassador to Seoul Harry Harris also says the U.S. will continue talks with the North, despite the regime's latest test launch.

Speaking at the Jeju Forum on Wednesday, he highlighted the fact that President Trump is keeping the door open to negotiations.




The three nations that South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit for his tour of Northern Europe next month – Finland, Norway and Sweden, have provided around 4-point-8 million U.S. dollars of humanitarian aid to North Korea this year.

According to data released on Thursday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Finland provided aid worth 336-thousand dollars and Norway 432-thousand dollars, while Sweden provided more than 4-million dollars of aid.

The donations were made through international humanitarian aid organizations.

They amount to 26 percent of the total donations to the North in 2019 counted by the OCHA.

Source: Arirang News