"South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a telephone conversation on Saturday, June 17, on major global and regional recurring issues, including South Korea-US relations, South Korea-China relations, US-China relations and the North Korea issue," the ministry said in a statement.
Both sides also agreed that North Korea must stop "military provocations" and that Pyongyang's denuclearization will benefit the international community, including China, the statement read. Diplomats also agreed that Seoul, Washington and Tokyo should jointly urge China to play a constructive role in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on the issue of North Korea's denuclearization, the ministry added.
Blinken will arrive in Beijing on June 18 for a two-day visit. This will be Blinken's first visit to China in his current role, and also the first visit to Beijing by a US secretary of state since 2018. It took the Biden administration almost six months to put this visit back on the schedule, as it was originally set for February.
The ministry said that Blinken promised to immediately share the results of his visit to Beijing with Seoul.
On May 31, North Korea unsuccessfully launched the Malligyong-1 military reconnaissance satellite mounted on a Chollima-1 carrier rocket. After the separation of the first stage, the engine of the second stage failed to ignite, causing the rocket to lose thrust and fall into the Yellow Sea, North Korea's space agency said.
On June 2, Anna Yevstigneeva, the Russian deputy ambassador to the UN, said that the root cause of tensions on the Korean Peninsula was the desire of the United States and its allies to increase pressure on Pyongyang.