CNN
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US Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Demilitarized Zone that divides North and South Korea on Thursday, the final cease on her four-day journey to Asia.
Harris condemned North Korea’s Kim Jong Un whereas standing on the closely bolstered area, at some point after Pyongyang fired two ballistic missiles into the waters off its east coast.
“It is clearly a provocation, and it is meant, we believe, to destabilize the region and we’re taking it seriously, and everyone should,” she mentioned to reporters touring together with her.
Though Harris arrived in Asia this week on a visit crafted to attend the state funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, she additionally met with Japanese, South Korean and Australian authorities leaders amid rising stress from China’s aggression within the South China Sea and North Korea’s ballistic missile program. Harris’ journey was meant partly to reaffirm Asian allies of the US’ intention to observe via on its safety commitments in Indo-Pacific area.
Harris on Thursday turned probably the most senior Biden administration official to face just a few toes away from the border to North Korea. During her tour, Harris went to Observation Post Ouellette the place she used binoculars to look into the Hermit Kingdom. Images from reporters touring with Harris confirmed that as she narrowed in on a tower with a small flap atop, some staff inside a constructing on the North Korean aspect appeared again at her.
“I had no doubt that would happen,” Harris mentioned, when advised a US service member knowledgeable her that North Korean guards might be staring again at her.
While on the DMZ, the vp additionally met with US service members and their households on the Camp Bonifas Dining Facility and thanked them for his or her service.
“These lives are forever benefiting because of your hard work and your dedication,” Harris advised the troops.
And she wrapped her go to to the DMZ with a tour of T2 Conference Row the place she obtained an operational briefing. But after her tour, Harris briefly misspoke when she referred to the US’ “alliance with the Republic of North Korea.” An official transcript from the vp’s workplace launched hours later corrected her remarks to “the Republic of Korea,” putting “North” from the file.
Still, Harris mentioned, “The United States and the world seek a stable and peaceful Korean Peninsula where the DPRK is no longer a threat.”
Before venturing to the DMZ Thursday, the vp met with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, with whom she mentioned the risk posed by North Korea, the “importance of peace” within the Taiwan Strait, cooperation on economics and know-how, and different regional points, in keeping with the White House.
“The Vice President and the President reaffirmed our alignment on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and our goal of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” a White House readout of the assembly launched afterward said.
During the assembly, Harris known as the US-South Korea alliance a “linchpin” of regional and international safety. She additionally reaffirmed the “goal of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” and condemned North Korea’s “provocative nuclear rhetoric” and ballistic missile launches, in keeping with a White House readout.
While in Seoul, Harris additionally met a bunch of feminine business leaders earlier than she was resulting from head to the DMZ – usually described as one of many world’s most closely armed borders.
The DMZ has lengthy been a vacation spot for US presidents and vice presidents on official visits to South Korea, the place they’ve been photographed peering via binoculars into North Korean-controlled territory.
Joe Biden visited the DMZ as vp however has not but gone since changing into President. Donald Trump was the final president to go to the area. In 2019, Trump shook palms with Kim Jong Un and took 20 steps into North Korea, making historical past as the primary sitting US chief to set foot within the nation.
Harris’ go to comes a day after North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from the Sunan space of Pyongyang, in keeping with South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
The missiles had a flight distance of about 360 kilometers (224 miles), an altitude of 30 kilometers (19 miles), and a pace of about Mach 6 – six instances the pace of sound, mentioned the JCS.
“The military has strengthened its surveillance and vigilance and it is maintaining a fully prepared posture while closely cooperating with the US,” it mentioned.
This is North Korea’s twentieth missile launch this 12 months, in keeping with CNN’s rely, and follows one other launch on September 25 – shortly earlier than Harris arrived within the area.
After Harris departed South Korea to return to Washington on Thursday, the South Korean army detected two extra short-range ballistic missiles launched from North Korea’s Sunchon space in South Pyongan Province on Thursday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) mentioned in a press release.
Speaking aboard the USS Howard on the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan on Wednesday, Harris criticized North Korea’s latest missile launches as “part of its illicit weapons program which threatens regional stability and violates multiple UN Security Council resolutions.”
At a information briefing on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say whether or not the launch might have been timed to coincide with Harris’ go to, saying the exams are “not unusual” for North Korea.
The US and South Korea have additionally been conducting joint naval workouts that includes the USS Ronald Reagan plane service since Monday.