US Deputy Secretary of State heads to Japan in show of unity on N.Korea

• Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will visit Japan next week.
• She will meet with top officials and hold trilateral discussions with Japan, South Korea, and the U.S., and North Korea.
• Sherman will also meet with LGBTQ community leaders to discuss marriage equality in Japan.

Officials announced Thursday that US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will visit Japan the following week in a show of unity following North Korea’s spate of missile tests and exercises.

Sherman will visit Tokyo from Monday through Wednesday, meeting with top officials and holding trilateral discussions with the vice foreign ministers of US allies Japan and South Korea.

“Together with the international community, we call on the DPRK to refrain from further provocations and engage in sustained and substantive dialogue,” said a senior US official who is set to travel with Sherman.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un met three times with Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, easing tensions but failing to reach a sustainable agreement. President Joe Biden has offered working-level meetings but has received little interest from North Korea.

North Korea has launched missiles over Japan during its launches. In response, the United States has attempted to strengthen sanctions, but efforts at the United Nations have been stymied by China, Pyongyang’s principal ally.

The diplomat scheduled to travel with Sherman stated that the United States remained willing to engage in dialogue with North Korea “without any preconditions whatsoever.”

“Our goal remains the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We remain prepared to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy to make tangible progress towards that end,” the official told reporters on customary condition of anonymity.

“It is unfortunate that the DPRK has not responded to our outreach, but we will continue.”

In Japan, Sherman will also meet with LGBTQ community leaders to discuss marriage equality, according to an official.

The government of President Joe Biden has pledged to champion LGBTQ rights on the international stage, and Japan is viewed as a place where US encouragement could have an impact.

Although a court in Osaka dismissed allegations that the country’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional in June, local authorities in Japan, especially in Tokyo, have pushed to begin recognizing same-sex unions.

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