The United States, Japan and South Korea on Wednesday warned that a North Korean nuclear test would trigger an “unprecedented strong reaction” and vowed to maintain unity in the face of Pyongyang’s multiple weapons tests.
During a meeting in Tokyo, the three countries’ deputy foreign ministers pledged to enhance deterrence capacity in the region.
“We agreed to further enhance cooperation… so that North Korea immediately stops its illegal activities and returns to denuclearization talks,” South Korea’s Cho Hyun-dong said.
The three countries agreed on the need for an unprecedentedly strong response if North Korea conducts its seventh nuclear test.
South Korea and the United States have repeatedly warned that Pyongyang is about to conduct a nuclear test, its first since 2017.
The isolated communist country has conducted a record number of weapons tests since the start of the year, and this month announced it had conducted tactical nuclear exercises.
“All this behavior is reckless and deeply destabilizing,” US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said before urging North Korea to “refrain from further provocations.”
Japanese Vice Minister Takeo Mori declared that “the intensification of North Korea’s nuclear and missile activities… constitutes a clear and serious challenge to the international community.”
He added that the three countries agreed to “strengthen deterrence in the region with the aim of denuclearizing North Korea.”
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