US Sec of State to host South Korea, Japan meeting

North Korea is likely to top the agenda Friday when U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosts his South Korean and Japanese counterparts at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Karine Jean-Pierre, principle deputy press secretary, confirmed the meeting during the Air Force One flight from Washington to Pittsburgh,where President Joe Biden is due to make an infrastructure announcement.

"This meeting with Japan, Republic of Korea is the first national security adviser level multilateral dialogue of the Biden administration," Jean-Pierre told reporters. It reflects "the importance we place on broadening and deepening our cooperation," in the region.

Sullivan will meet National Security Secretariat Secretary General Shigeru Kitamura of Japan and National Security Adviser Suh Hoon of South Korea.

Last week, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea in a defiance of U.N. resolutions that ban such launches by North Korea.

Some experts say North Korea's missile launches, the first of their kind in a year, were aimed at applying pressure on the Biden administration.

Past short-range missile launches by North Korea have typically drawn U.N. Security Council condemnations, but not fresh sanctions.

North Korea was slapped with toughened U.N. sanctions in 2016-17 following its provocative run of missile and nuclear tests aimed at acquiring the capability of launching nuclear strikes on the U.S. mainland.