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National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan responds to a question from the news media during the White House daily briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, July 11. Yonhap |
The top national security advisers of South Korea, Japan and the United States will meet this week in Hawaii, the White House National Security Council (NSC) said Tuesday.
"National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, National Security Secretariat Secretary General Akiba Takeo of Japan, and Director of the National Security Office of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Kim Sung-han will meet at the Headquarters of the United States Indo-Pacific Command in Honolulu, Hawaii on September 1, 2022," NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a released statement, referring to South Korea by its official name.
Sullivan will also meet bilaterally with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts Wednesday.
Watson did not specify topics for the upcoming meetings, but they come amid fears that North Korea may soon conduct its seventh nuclear test.
Top officials in South Korea and the U.S. have said Pyongyang appears to have finished all preparations for a nuclear test and that it may only be gauging the timing.
North Korea conducted its last and sixth nuclear test in September 2019.
South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup said earlier this week that the reclusive regime appears to be preparing for additional intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) launches.
Pyongyang has fired more than 30 ballistic missiles this year, already a yearly record high, according to the U.S. (Yonhap)