U.S., Japan, S. Korea warn of 'unparalleled' response if N. Korea holds nuclear test

The United States, Japan and South Korea warned on Wednesday that an "unparalleled" scale of response would be warranted if North Korea conducts a seventh nuclear bomb test. Washington and its allies believe North Korea could be about to resume nuclear bomb testing for the first time since 2017. "We agreed that an unparalleled scale of response would be necessary if North Korea pushes ahead with a seventh nuclear test," South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong told a news conference in Tokyo.

Cho was speaking alongside his Japanese and U.S. counterparts, Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. "We urge (North Korea) to refrain from further provocations," Sherman said, calling them "reckless and deeply destabilising for the region. "Anything that happens here, such as a North Korean nuclear test ... has implications for the security of the entire world," she said, sending a thinly veiled message to Pyongyang's supporters, China and Russia, in the UN Security Council.

We hope indeed that everyone on the Security Council would understand that any use of a nuclear weapon will change the world in incredible ways."

"We agreed to further strengthen deterrence and response capability of the Japan-U.S. alliance and the U.S.-South Korea alliance, and to promote further security cooperation among the three countries," Mori said.

“United States has repeated publicly that we do not support Taiwan's independence, but we want to ensure that there is peace, and so we will be doing whatever we can to support Taiwan and to work with Japan and with Republic of Korea to ensure that Taiwan can defend itself," Sherman said.

(Source Reuters)