Canada, U.S. to co-host international meeting on security on Korean Peninsula next month

OTTAWA, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Canada and the United States will co-host a Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Security and Stability on Korean Peninsula in Vancouver on Jan. 16, 2018.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the meeting alongside U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who arrived here for his first visit to Canada for a series of meetings, including a sit-down with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"The security threat posed by North Korea is a global challenge that affects us all. A diplomatic solution is both essential and possible, and we will continue to work with our allies and regional partners, including the United States, Japan and South Korea, in pursuing our common objective of a secure and stable Korean peninsula," said Freeland.

"We continue to find ways to advance the pressure campaign against North Korea, and send a unified message from the international community: We will not accept you as a nuclear weapons nation. We share one goal, full and complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Tillerson said.

He said this display of solidarity sends a message to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) that the rest of the world is prepared to talk. "We can't talk unless North Korea is ready to talk. We're waiting for them to indicate a readiness to talk -- this pressure campaign will not abate. We will not be rolling any of it back."

Most of the countries which joined in the 1950-1953 Korean War have been invited to participate in the Vancouver meeting. Enditem