Seoul, May 28 (IANS): The top diplomats of South Korea, Japan and the US have pledged efforts to end North Korea's destabilising activities and bring the country back to the dialogue table, the media reported on Saturday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi also expressed deep regret over the failed attempt to pass a new UN Security Council resolution on North Korea, reports Yonhap News Agency.
The UN Security Council voted on the US-proposed resolution but failed to pass it due to opposition from China and Russia, both veto power-wielding permanent members of the council and close allies of Pyongyang.
"In spite of 13 Security Council members' support, we deeply regret that the UNSC failed to adopt a resolution in response to the DPRK's blatant and repeated violations of UNSC resolutions," the top diplomats said in a joint statement released by the US State Department on Friday.
"We reaffirm our commitment to further strengthen our coordination with the international community to urge the DPRK to cease its unlawful activities and instead engage in dialogue," they added, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
North Korea has so far staged 17 rounds of missile tests this year, with the latest round held on Tuesday, in which it fired three ballistic missiles, including an apparent intercontinental ballistic missile.
The State Department earlier noted that Pyongyang has now fired at least six ICBMs this year.
"The US, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and Japan strongly condemn recent Democratic People's Republic of Korea ballistic missile launches, commit to strengthen trilateral cooperation towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and full implementation of relevant UNSC resolutions, and underscore continued openness to meeting with the DPRK without preconditions," the three diplomats said in the joint statement.
They reiterated their commitment to engaging with North Korea in serious dialogue.
"We stress that a path to serious and sustained dialogue remains open and urge the DPRK to return to negotiations."