1. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se had a telephone conversation with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on March 6, and assessed the situation concerning North Korea’s simultaneous launches of multiple ballistic missiles this morning and discussed possible measures to be taken by the UN Security Council, as well as ways of cooperation between the ROK and Japan, and among the ROK, the US and Japan to take strong measures in response to the latest North Korean provocation.

2. The two Ministers shared the view that North Korea’s provocation today came despite the international community’s strong condemnation of the North’s February 12 ballistic missile launch amid the increasing cooperation between the ROK and the US, as well as between the US and Japan, under the Trump administration, and the growing international pressure on North Korea following the North’s recent killing of Kim Jong-nam with VX nerve agent, a chemical weapon, in Malaysia.

o Recalling that the ROK, US and Japanese Foreign Ministers, in their meeting on February 16, sent a strong warning against North Korea’s provocations, Minister Yun and his Japanese counterpart strongly condemned today’s additional provocation by North Korea.

o In response to Minister Yun’s detailed explanations on the ROK’s analysis and position, Foreign Minister Kishida said that the landing of the North Korean ballistic missiles inside Japan’s EEZ is a serious threat that can never be accepted.

3. The two Ministers took note that close strategic communications are being held to respond to North Korea’s threats at various levels, including the ROK-Japan Foreign Ministers’ meeting, the ROK-US-Japan Foreign Ministers’ meeting, and a meeting of chief negotiators for the Six-Party Talks. They also agreed to pursue close cooperation between the ROK and Japan in order to make sure that strong and effective measures to pressure North Korea are taken not only at the Security Council, but also at the bilateral and global levels in response to the latest North Korean provocation.

o With regard to this, Minister Yun stressed that following today’s provocation by North Korea, it is important to enhance international cooperation in dealing with the North Korean nuclear and missile issue, and continue to increase pressure on North Korea over its use of a chemical weapon and human rights violations.

4. Today’s telephone conversation came about three weeks after the ROK-US-Japan Foreign Ministers’ meeting (Feb. 16) and the ROK-Japan Foreign Ministers’ meeting (Feb. 17) held on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting. The two Ministers agreed that close cooperation between the ROK and Japan is important amid the grave security situation caused by North Korea’s repeated provocations in recent months. They also agreed to continue to work together, including through continuous consultations, for a stable development of the ROK-Japan relations despite recent difficulties in the bilateral relations.


* unofficial translation