‘Hello. Period’
Before President Joe Biden left South Korea for Japan yesterday, he offered a brief message to Kim Jong Un, whose nuclear sabre-rattling has risked overshadowing the US leader's first Asia trip: "Hello. Period."
He offered the succinct greeting when reporters asked whether he had anything to say to North Korea's leader, highlighting his administration's openness to dialogue with Pyongyang, even as they look to ramp up joint military exercises with South Korea.
Biden said that he was "not concerned" about the risks of a fresh weapons test while he was in the region -- something US officials have warned of repeatedly -- saying: "We are prepared for anything North Korea does."
He has spent two days with South Korea's newly elected President Yoon Suk-yeol, with the pair saying Saturday that "considering the evolving threat" from Pyongyang, they were looking at expanding the "scope and scale" of joint military exercises.
North Korea has conducted a blitz of sanctions-busting weapons tests this year, including firing an intercontinental ballistic missile at full range for the first time since 2017, with satellite imagery indicating a nuclear test is looming.
In Japan, Biden was set to launch a plan for greater US economic engagement with the Indo-Pacific today.
On the second leg of his first Asia trip as president, Biden is to meet with leaders of Japan, India and Australia, the "Quad," another cornerstone of his strategy to push back against China's expanding influence.
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