The Japanese and U.S. foreign ministers agreed Wednesday to closely cooperate toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, amid repeated North Korean ballistic missile launches since earlier this year, the Japanese government said.
In their telephone talks, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also shared their "grave concern" over Russia's military buildup along its border with Ukraine that has sparked concern about a possible invasion, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
North Korea's missile launches "threaten the peace and stability of Japan and the international community," Hayashi told reporters after the phone talks.
Blinken condemned North Korea's recent ballistic missile launches as violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions, the U.S. State Department said. He also told Hayashi that the United States will cooperate with Japan and South Korea to completely denuclearize the peninsula.
Also Wednesday, the vice foreign ministers of Japan, the United States and South Korea held phone talks, agreeing to continue to work closely together in dealing with the North Korean nuclear and missile issues, the Japanese ministry said.
The moves came after North Korea on Sunday fired what its state-run media identified as a Hwasong-12 missile, apparently the first launch of an intermediate- and long-range ballistic missile since November 2017 that marked the seventh round of missile testing by the country since the beginning of the year.
In mid-January, Pyongyang hinted at the resumption of nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
As for Ukraine, Hayashi and Blinken discussed "the need to deter Russia from further military action or other aggressive acts," the State Department said.
Several hours before talking with Hayashi, Blinken held phone talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in which Blinken urged an "immediate" de-escalation and withdrawal of Russian troops from the border with Ukraine, according to the U.S. government.
