G-7 Foreign ministers confirm cooperation over N. Korea

April 7, 2019

Dinard, France--Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven major economies on Saturday agreed to maintain cooperation toward the denuclearization of North Korea.

"We remain committed to the goal of achieving complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement" of all of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction, the ministers said in a joint statement adopted at a two-day meeting from Friday.

The G-7 members confirmed their commitment to achieving North Korea's full denuclearization, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono told reporters after the meeting.

Japan asked the other G-7 members to cooperate to resolve immediately the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea, Kono also said.

The meeting in Dinard, northwestern France, brought together officials of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union.

The G-7 participants agreed on the need to cooperate to ensure security in cyberspace and stabilize the Middle East situation. Also confirmed was collaboration with Africa to promote sustainable development.

In the statement, the G-7 members said they "remain seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China seas" and voiced "strong opposition to any unilateral actions that escalate tensions and undermine regional stability and the international rules-based maritime order."

"We encourage China to participate responsibly in the free and open international rules-based system," the statement also said.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo skipped the meeting, sparking concern about G-7 solidarity. But the French foreign ministry played down the concern, saying there is no problem with his absence because he had other engagements in his country. Jiji Press