The leaders of South Korea and Canada on Wednesday vowed to strengthen their security and economic cooperation to address challenges posed by North Korea and expand Canadian supplies of minerals crucial to South Korea’s technology industry as they held a summit in Seoul.
The meeting between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came before they travel to Japan for the weekend’s Group of Seven meetings, where geopolitical uncertainties worsened by Russia’s war on Ukraine, China’s regional assertiveness and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions are expected to drive discussions.
In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the leaders condemned North Korea’s growing nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programme and urged Pyongyang to return to US-led denuclearisation talks, which have stalled since 2019 over disagreements related to international sanctions imposed on the North.
They expressed concern over North Korea’s human rights violations and “the regime’s complete disregard for the well-being of its people,” and said their governments would try to improve international awareness about the issue.“We will also be continuing our work to support human rights organisations” focused on advancing North Korean human rights, Trudeau said in a joint news conference with Yoon after their summit.
“North Korean people are the first victims of the terrible regime in North Korea, an example of why autocracy has terrible, terrible impacts on its own people first and foremost, before (it) even destabilises and puts at risk people in neighbouring countries,” he said.