Washington, Seoul and Tokyo Reaffirm Commitment to North Korea's Nuclear Disarmament

The United States, South Korea and Japan reaffirmed on Saturday their commitment to the "complete denuclearization" of North Korea, which firmly refuses to give up its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.

Speculation is growing about the possibility of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the sidelines of the "APEC" summit, scheduled for next month in China, especially since Trump has repeatedly invited Pyongyang to hold talks on the nuclear issue.

In a statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his South Korean counterpart Cho Hyun and Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi, they "reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to the complete denuclearization" of North Korea, during talks held Friday on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

The three ministers pledged the "full implementation" of UN Security Council resolutions, including a ban on providing any financial support that contributes to funding North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, according to the US State Department statement.

Despite long-standing UN sanctions, North Korea has entrenched its status as a nuclear state, with its regime repeatedly declaring that its nuclear weapon is permanent and irreversible.

Pyongyang denounced on Saturday a statement issued by a group of countries monitoring the implementation of sanctions imposed on it, asserting that the "stereotypical sanctions campaign imposed by the United States and the West cannot affect the status of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as a state possessing nuclear weapons."