US President Joe Biden is considering a trip to the Korean Demilitarized Zone when he visits Asia later this month, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday.
Biden is expected to visit South Korea and Japan from May 20-24 and hold talks with his South Korean and Japanese colleagues.
Psaki said the White House was still finalizing details of the Asia schedule, but a trip to the heavily fortified DMZ separating the two Koreas is a step taken by many visiting the region.
Several former US presidents, and Biden himself before he became president, have visited the DMZ, but former President Donald Trump was the first to meet a North Korean leader there when he held a third meeting with Kim Jong Un in June 2019 as part of the his failed attempt to persuade him to give up his nuclear and missile programs.
Often described as the world’s last frontier of the Cold War, the DMZ has been in existence since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty.
Psaki echoed a US assessment that North Korea could be ready to conduct a seventh nuclear test as early as this month. North Korea has not tested an atomic bomb since 2017, but has resumed testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles this year.
“We have shared this information with allies and partners and are working closely with them,” Psaki said.
North Korea has recently stepped up weapons testing and has resumed launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) this year for the first time since 2017.
US and South Korean officials have been saying for weeks that there are signs of new construction at Punggye-ri, North Korea’s only known nuclear testing site, and that Pyongyang could soon test a new bomb.
North Korea fired three ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea and Japan said in their latest tests aimed at advancing its weapons programs, even though it reported a COVID-19 break out for the first time.
In condemning the latest launch, the US State Department said it remained committed to a diplomatic approach with North Korea and reiterated a call on Pyongyang to return to dialogue.
