US and Canada to co-host meeting on North Korea in Vancouver
Posted December 19, 2017 5:18 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – Following an afternoon of meetings with the US Secretary of State in Ottawa, Canada and the Americans have agreed to use a meeting in Vancouver next month to step up the pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.
South Korea, Japan and India are just some of the other countries that will be at the international summit, which is being held on January 16th.
It’s being called the Vancouver Group and the aim will be to discuss strategies to force North Korea into talks to end its nuclear program.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says a diplomatic solution is the best way to solve this standoff.
“We’re waiting on North Korea to come to that conclusion. And until they do, the pressure campaign will only intensify,” Tillerson says. “We can’t talk unless North Korea’s ready to talk. And I think as we’ve indicated, we’re waiting for them to indicate a readiness to talk.”
Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland is confident a united front approach will work.
“A diplomatic path to the outcome I think we all believe in, which is a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.”
Freeland says they want to send a clear, united message to North Korea.
“This is threatening us all and the pressure will increase until the behaviour changes.”
Neither Tillerson nor Freeland commented directly when asked if military options were discussed at their meetings.
