JAKARTA: The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States and South Korea on Friday affirmed that they will strengthen cooperation in dealing with North Korea over its nuclear and missile development.

Their meeting was hastily arranged in response to North Korea’s firing of a new intercontinental ballistic missile Wednesday.

In the meeting, held on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations-related events in Jakarta, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that there is no greater challenge than provocations by North Korea.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said that Tokyo wants to continue efforts to bring the trilateral cooperation to a higher level.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin underlined the need for close cooperation to realize the complete denuclearization of North Korea.

Meanwhile, Hayashi and Blinken held talks with their Philippine counterpart in the first meeting of the three countries’ foreign ministers.

The three ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation in the field of maritime security. Their talks followed the first meeting of the three countries’ senior national security officials in Tokyo in June.

JIJI Press