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Biden Adviser Sullivan and China’s Yang Discuss Regional Security

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan waits on the tarmac for US President Joe Biden to deplane after arriving aboard Air Force One at Portsmouth International Airport in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, US April 19, 2022. Picture taken April 19, 2022. (Reuters)
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan waits on the tarmac for US President Joe Biden to deplane after arriving aboard Air Force One at Portsmouth International Airport in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, US April 19, 2022. Picture taken April 19, 2022. (Reuters)
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Biden Adviser Sullivan and China’s Yang Discuss Regional Security

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan waits on the tarmac for US President Joe Biden to deplane after arriving aboard Air Force One at Portsmouth International Airport in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, US April 19, 2022. Picture taken April 19, 2022. (Reuters)
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan waits on the tarmac for US President Joe Biden to deplane after arriving aboard Air Force One at Portsmouth International Airport in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, US April 19, 2022. Picture taken April 19, 2022. (Reuters)

President Joe Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke by phone on Wednesday with China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi, a call focused on regional security issues and nonproliferation, the White House said.

Biden will visit Asia from May 20 to 24, including South Korea and Japan, a trip aimed at bolstering ties with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region in the face of growing US competition with Beijing.

Sullivan and Yang "also discussed Russia's war against Ukraine and specific issues in US-China relations," the White House said in a short statement, without giving further details.

The two last met in Rome in March, ahead of Biden's call that month with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which the U.S. president warned Xi of consequences should Beijing offer material support for Moscow's war in Ukraine.

China, which weeks before the Russian invasion announced a "no-limits" partnership with Moscow, has refused to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions and has criticized sweeping Western sanctions on Russia.

But after nearly three months of the war, senior US officials say they have not detected overt Chinese military and economic support for Russia, a welcome development in the tense US-China relationship.

North Korea appears to be preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) ahead Biden's trip to Asia, which could overshadow his administration's broader focus on China and trade, and underscore the lack of progress in denuclearization talks.

The United States has pushed for more United Nations sanctions on North Korea, but China and Russia have signaled opposition, arguing sanctions should be eased to jumpstart talks and provide humanitarian relief to the impoverished North.

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North Korea Warns of Reprisal Against South Korea-US Drills Despite Signs of Tensions Easing 

A North Korean guard post near the border city of Paju, is seen along with a loudspeaker installation used to blare noise across the border into the South, in this photo taken Aug. 10, 2025. (dpa)
A North Korean guard post near the border city of Paju, is seen along with a loudspeaker installation used to blare noise across the border into the South, in this photo taken Aug. 10, 2025. (dpa)
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North Korea Warns of Reprisal Against South Korea-US Drills Despite Signs of Tensions Easing 

A North Korean guard post near the border city of Paju, is seen along with a loudspeaker installation used to blare noise across the border into the South, in this photo taken Aug. 10, 2025. (dpa)
A North Korean guard post near the border city of Paju, is seen along with a loudspeaker installation used to blare noise across the border into the South, in this photo taken Aug. 10, 2025. (dpa)

North Korea has denounced a major joint exercise planned by the South Korean and US militaries as "direct military provocation" and warned of counteraction, despite signs of easing tension across the border under a new leader in Seoul.

North Korea's Defense Minister No Kwang Chol said its military has an "absolute mission" to defend national security against the large-scale 11-day drills by South Korea and the United States, which he said posed a real and dangerous threat.

"The armed forces of the DPRK will cope with the war drills of the US and the (South) with thoroughgoing and resolute counteraction posture and strictly exercise the sovereign right," No said in a statement issued via the KCNA state news agency on Monday.

DPRK is short for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.

No said the drills staged under the pretext of defense against threats were additional proof of the confrontational intent by the two countries that raises hostility and further destabilizes regional security.

North Korea routinely denounces military drills by the South and the United States, having called some previous exercises "a rehearsal" for nuclear war on the Korean peninsula, even as Pyongyang conducted a range of missile tests and live fire artillery exercises.

South Korea and the United States said last week the annual exercise would begin on August 18 to test command control and troop mobilization under an upgraded security strategy against a heightened threat of nuclear warfare by North Korea.

However, the allies said a major part of the field exercise would be postponed and conducted separately next month, citing weather conditions. The postponement was widely seen as prompted by South Korea's liberal President Lee Jae Myung, who won a snap election in June, to ease tension with Pyongyang.

Ties between the rival Koreas had plunged to some of the most hostile points in recent years, as the North pressed on with developing nuclear attack capabilities and dramatically boosted military ties with Russia.

While Pyongyang has publicly rebuffed renewed outreach by Lee and Washington for dialogue, it was making moves seen as reciprocating some South Korean actions to ease tensions.

South Korea said on Saturday it had detected the North's military removing some loudspeakers at the border, days after the South began dismantling similar equipment that had blared propaganda across the border.

North Korea also seemed to have used a more restrained tone in criticisms about the US-South Korea joint exercises, said an official at Seoul's Unification Ministry, which oversees ties between the Koreas.

Pyongyang "appears to focus on expressing its position on the drills, rather than making military threats," ministry spokesperson Koo Byoungsam said at a briefing on Monday.