TOKYO (Sputnik) — Japan, South Korea and the United States have asserted their readiness to respond to provocative moves by North Korea, South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam said Saturday.
"We have again confirmed that Japan, South Korea and the United States are prepared to react immediately to any provocation by the DPRK," Lim said after the close of trilateral talks between the three countries' vice foreign ministers in Tokyo, the Kyodo news agency reported.
During the meeting, US, Japanese and South Korean diplomats resolved to exert unprecedented pressure on Pyongyang after the early January alleged hydrogen bomb test, according to South Korean media.
US Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken expressed hope for cooperation with China in imposing anti-DPRK sanctions by means of a UN resolution, the agency said. Regional instability caused by Pyongyang's actions is not within China's interests, Blinken added.
On Janury 6, North Korea confirmed in an official statement it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb, stating that the test had been carried out with aims of "self-defense," while stressing that the country will not use nuclear weapons provided its sovereignty is not violated.
North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2005 and conducted a series of underground nuclear weapon tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Pyongyang's nuclear program has triggered multiple protests from the international community.
