Marcos, Biden, Kishida call out North Korea, Russia nuclear threats
President Marcos, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have jointly expressed concern about North Korea's ballistic missile tests as well as Russia's nuclear threats as they met at the White House for a historic trilateral meeting.
The three leaders issued their joint vision statement, where they called out North Korea's actions that they said are posing "grave threat to peace and security" and Russia's missile attacks against Ukraine that are "completely unjustifiable."
"Our three nations affirm our commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and strongly condemn the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) escalatory threats and unprecedented number of ballistic missile launches, including multiple intercontinental ballistic missile launches, which pose a grave threat to peace and security," they said.
"We emphasize the importance of addressing the human rights and humanitarian concerns of the international community, including the immediate resolution of the abductions issue," they added.
The three leaders then demanded North Korea to comply with relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
They also said North Korea must "refrain from continued development, testing, and transfer of ballistic missiles to any country, including Russia, which has used these missiles against Ukraine."
"We assert that these DPRK actions have severe security implications for the Indo-Pacific and European regions," they said.
Marcos, Biden and Kishida also tackled the current Ukraine-Russia war and expressed their backing for the former.
"As we continue to affirm our commitment to international law, including the United Nations Charter, we reiterate our unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders," they said.
"To that end, we recall the United Nations General Assembly resolutions stating that no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal," they added.
They said that Russia's nuclear weapon use threats in the context of its invasion of Ukraine "are unacceptable."
"And we state unequivocally that any use of a nuclear weapon by Russia in Ukraine would be completely unjustifiable," they added.