hankyoreh

Sept. 19. (AFP/Yonhap News)

By Park Hyun and Seong Yeon-cheol, Washington and Beijing correspondents

The US and China are discussing a response to what they see as a highly unstable situation in North Korea following the execution of onetime second-in-command Jang Song-thaek.

The Chinese foreign ministry announced that US Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi shared opinions on the North Korean nuclear issue during a telephone call on the evening of Dec. 15. Other topics reportedly included US-China relations and Middle East issues.

The Chinese foreign ministry briefly described the discussion as “the two ministers trading views on the issue of resuming the six-party talks [on the North Korean nuclear program].”

Reuters quoted US officials as saying the US was discussing North Korea’s internal situation with its closest ally China in order to avoid any upheaval that could lead to instability on the peninsula.

Kerry’s conversation with Wang, which came during the US Secretary of State’s tour of Southeast Asia, was seen as unusual - and a sign of how seriously Washington is taking the North Korean situation.

Kerry also addressed Jang’s execution in an interview with the ABC, a US television network, calling it a sign of the recklessness and instability of the Kim Jong-un regime and stressing the need for close international cooperation on resolving the nuclear issue.

“To have a nuclear weapon, potentially, in the hands of somebody like Kim Jong-un just becomes even more unacceptable,” Kerry said.

“I think we need to factor that into the urgency of getting China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, all of us, to stay on the same page and to put as much effort into the denuclearization as possible,” he added.

Referring to the recent internal situation in North Korea, Kerry said Jang’s death was “not the first execution” of a top leader by Kim.

“There have been a significant number of executions taking place over the last months which we’re aware of,” Kerry added, though he did not provide additional details.

Wang similarly said on Dec. 16 that Jang’s execution was being taken as “a major variable” in the North Korean political situation.

“We believe and hope there will be no major changes in North Korea,” he added.

Wang also addressed the question of possible changes to Pyongyang’s foreign policy during a meeting with reporters after a foreign affairs and national security debate in Beijing.

“We are watching things more closely,” he said.

He did not elaborate on whether Beijing would change its own policies toward North Korea, only expressing China’s standard position wishing for North Korea’s stability and economic development.

During the debate earlier, Wang had expressed hope that the six-party talks would be “swiftly resumed.”

A diplomatic source in Washington D.C. said the Jang execution has left the Barack Obama administration in the US feeling a greater sense of alarm.

“They seem especially concerned that North Korea has nuclear weapons, and that even China doesn’t seem to be able to control it,” the source said of the reason for Washington’s sense of urgency in actively intervening to resolve the nuclear issue.

South Korea and the US are scheduled to hold a strategic dialogue on Dec. 17, with Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun meeting in Washington with Deputy Secretary of State William Burns to discuss future developments in North Korea and the nuclear issue, as well as other outstanding issues between the two countries.

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