NK warned against nuclear test

South Korea, the United States and Japan urged North Korea to drop its plan to conduct another nuclear test or face serious repercussions.

They issued the warning following a trilateral meeting in Washington D.C., Monday.

“If North Korea goes ahead with another nuclear test, we, along with the international community, will make it pay the price for that,” said Hwang Joon-kook, South Korea’s top nuclear envoy.

Hwang made the remarks at a media briefing after the talks with U.S. and Japanese counterparts ― Glyn Davies and Junichi Ihara.

“North Korea’s nuclear test would be a direct challenge to the international community, and a threat to peace and security in the world,” he said.

Hwang also held separate bilateral meetings with Davies and Ihara on the same day.

The one-on-one talks between the envoys from Seoul and Tokyo were the first since June last year.

According to insiders, the dialogue took place on condition that both parties would only discuss North Korean issues.

Seoul and Tokyo didn’t engage in a separate bilateral meeting during the last trilateral denuclearization gathering on November, reflecting the deteriorating ties between the two neighboring countries after Japan’s numerous attempts at historical revision of atrocities committed against Korea during its colonial rule of the peninsula (1910-45).

Monday’s tripartite session came while the unpredictable Stalinist state threatens to carry out a “new type” of nuclear test as an angry response to a U.N. Security Council (UNSC) condemnation of its recent ballistic missile launches.

It was also a follow-up on a summit agreement between the leaders of the three regional powers in The Hague, Netherlands, last month.

The three regional powers agreed to make “united and effective” efforts to prevent North Korea from taking further provocative steps, according to Hwang.

Releasing a statement following the tripartite talks, the U.S. also said that the three nations urged the North to “refrain from further threatening actions.”

“These discussions reflect the close ongoing cooperation between our three countries, as well as our common values and interests across the Asia-Pacific region,” said the U.S. in the statement.

It added that Seoul, Washington and Tokyo reaffirmed their commitment to the Sept. 19, 2005 Joint Statement of the six-way talks and its core objective of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.

Under the deal, North Korea is obliged to abandon its entire nuclear program in return for political and economic incentives from South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia.

The negotiations of the six-parties remain at a halt since December 2008 after the North walked out in protest of the UNSC condemnation of a banned rocket launch.

North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, drawing international condemnation and U.N. resolution sanctions.

Meanwhile, the communist regime continues with its criticism of the allies, Tuesday.

“The U.S. and South Korean government have no right to blame us referring to us as violating the U.N resolutions,” said the North’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper. “As long as the adversarial powers’ challenge of aggression continues to take place we will push forward with our efforts to strengthen self-defensive military power.”

The so-called “challenge of aggression” refers to the ongoing Seoul-Washington joint Foal Eagle military exercise that will last until April 18. By Chung Min-uck The korea times