New York: The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States and South Korea expressed “serious concern” Thursday about North Korea’s new law allowing pre-emptive nuclear strikes.

The ministers expressed their serious concern over Pyongyang’s “escalatory and destabilizing messaging related to nuclear weapons use, including its adoption of a new law on nuclear policy,” they said in a joint statement after a meeting in New York.

They condemned North Korea’s numerous ballistic missile launches this year and warned that a North Korean nuclear test “would be met with a strong and resolute response from the international community,” according to the statement.

The three ministers underscored the importance of working together to advance their countries’ shared goal of achieving the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, according to the statement.

They urged North Korea to return to negotiations.

The meeting brought together Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, U.S.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin.

They also reaffirmed the importance of achieving an immediate resolution of North Korea’s abductions.

JIJI Press