U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he was letting Japan and South Korea buy "a substantially increased amount" of military equipment from the United States.
"I am allowing Japan & South Korea to buy a substantially increased amount of highly sophisticated military equipment from the United States," Trump tweeted.
According to a previous statement by the White House, Trump spoke by phone with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday and gave his in-principle approval to South Korea's initiative to lift restrictions on their missile payload capabilities.
Trump also provided his conceptual approval for the purchase of many billions of dollars' worth of military weapons and equipment from the United States by South Korea, the statement added.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sunday detonated a hydrogen bomb that can be carried by an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), DPRK's Central Television announced.
DPRK's nuclear testing and launches using ballistic missile technology violate UN Security Council resolutions.
China's representative to the United Nations Liu Jieyi on Monday condemned the latest nuclear test by the DPRK and urged the country to return to the track of dialogue. China will not allow chaos and war on the Korean Peninsula, he said.
Liu said the suspension-for-suspension proposal and dual-track approach put forward by China together with the Russian proposal of a step-by-step approach is a realistic and feasible roadmap for the settlement of the issue, asking the relevant parties for due consideration and positive responses.
The idea of dual approach involves parallel efforts to move forward both de-nuclearization and the establishment of a peaceful mechanism on the peninsula; the initiative of suspension-for-suspension calls for the DPRK to suspend its nuclear and missile activities and for the United States and South Korea to suspend their large-scale war games.
