The national security advisers of South Korea, the United States and Japan will soon issue a joint statement sternly warning North Korea over its latest missile launch, National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong said Thursday.
Cho revealed the plan to reporters at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul upon returning from Tokyo shortly after North Korea fired what South Korea's military said were two short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea.
"We are preparing a joint statement with a stern warning against North Korea," Cho said, noting he held trilateral talks with U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Japan's National Security Secretariat Secretary General Takeo Akiba in Tokyo earlier in the day. "I expect it to be announced soon."
The launch appeared to be aimed at protesting a series of massive South Korea-U.S. live-fire drills that ended earlier Thursday with President Yoon Suk Yeol's attendance.
North Korea has also said it will launch another rocket carrying what it calls a military reconnassaince satellite after an earlier rocket launched May 31 crashed into the Yellow Sea.
Should the North go ahead, Cho said he agreed with Sullivan and Akiba to take various actions together, including imposing additional sanctions on the North, military actions between South Korea and the U.S., and condemning the North through the U.N. Security Council.
In a press release, the presidential office said the three national security advisers discussed North Korea, regional security issues and trilateral cooperation measures, and agreed to "further strengthen cooperation between the three countries aimed at contributing to regional peace and stability."
The advisers recalled that President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed during their trilateral summit in Hiroshima, Japan, last month, to bolster deterrence against the North, and strengthen the free and open international order.
They agreed to continue cooperation for swift and effective follow-up measures, and to continue discussions to prepare for a trilateral summit proposed by the U.S., the presidential office said.
Following the trilateral talks, Cho met separately with Sullivan, and the two discussed bilateral relations, North Korea, and regional and global cooperation.
They agreed to faithfully implement the various agreements reached during the Yoon-Biden summit in Washington in April, including the establishment of a Nuclear Consultative Group, and further develop the global comprehensive strategic alliance between the two countries.
In a bilateral meeting with Akiba on Wednesday, Cho stressed South Korea's position that the release of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant should proceed safely in line with international laws and standards.
The two noted the three Yoon-Kishida summits held between March and May made it widely known that the bilateral relationship has fully entered the improvement phase and welcomed the active discussions that are currently under way through high-level exchanges to promote bilateral cooperation.
They also reaffirmed the need to strengthen bilateral cooperation, trilateral cooperation with the U.S., and international solidarity in order to firmly respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations.
Cho told reporters at the airport that he also met with Kishida in Tokyo and delivered a message from Yoon. The two leaders could meet again "in the not too distant future" on the sidelines of an upcoming multilateral gathering, he said.
Also Thursday, South Korea and Japan held the second session of their economic security dialogue in Tokyo, led by Wang Yun-jong, presidential secretary for economic security, and his counterpart from the Japanese prime minister's office, Yasuo Takamura.
The two sides discussed such issues as critical and emerging technologies, strengthening supply chain cooperation and economic coercion, and exchanged views on technological and personnel exchanges in the semiconductor, battery and bio sectors, among other issues.
Source: Yonhap News Agency