Threat from North Korea is ‘heightening’, say Nancy Pelosi and Seoul official

US, South Korea parliamentary speakers agree to support efforts for denuclearisation and peace in joint statement, which omits mention of Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan

Pelosi expected to head to demilitarised zone on Thursday, the highest-ranking US official to do so since Trump visited in 2019

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US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (left) and South Korea National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 5:31pm, 4 Aug 2022Updated: 5:50pm, 4 Aug 2022

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her South Korean counterpart Kim Jin-pyo on Thursday expressed concerns over increasing threats posed by nuclear-armed North Korea, in a statement that stopped short of mentioning the turmoil left by the American official’s trip to Taiwan.

The two sides expressed concern over “the grave situation in which North Korea’s level of threat is heightening”, said Kim, the National Assembly Speaker, reading from a joint press statement following his meeting with Pelosi.

“Based on a powerful and extended deterrence against North Korea that our public can recognise, we agree to support the two governments’ efforts for denuclearisation and peace through international cooperation and diplomatic dialogues,” the statement said.

Conspicuously absent in the joint statement, however, were such words as China and Taiwan.

China on Thursday kicked off an intense live fire drill around the island as an expression of anger over Pelosi’s provocative trip to Taiwan, which Beijing considers a rebellious province that should be reunified.