The top diplomats of Japan, South Korea and the United States declared their unity against North Korea after a series of ballistic missile launches by Pyongyang.
After a day of meetings in Honolulu, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa condemned the series of seven launches as destabilizing in a joint statement on Saturday.
They said, Pyongyang needs to cease its unlawful activities and instead engage in dialogue.
North Korea is in a phase of provocation, Blinken told a
press conference alongside his fellow foreign ministers, using the acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The three diplomats reiterated their commitment to the denuclearization of the entire Korean Peninsula, and readiness to resume talks with Pyongyang, which has not responded to overtures from the administration of US President Joe Biden in the past year.
The Secretary and Foreign Ministers emphasized they held no hostile intent towards North Korea and underscored continued openness to meeting it without preconditions.