1. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha talked to Foreign Minister Taro Kono of Japan over the phone on September 3, during which the two top diplomats discussed their assessments of the situation regarding North Korea’s sixth nuclear test and ways to respond to the provocation.

2. Minister Kang mentioned that the Republic of Korea government, after a President-chaired emergency meeting of the National Security Council, had issued a government statement condemning in strong terms the North’s reckless provocation, an absolutely intolerable act that came merely five days after the North had launched a flagrant provocation by firing a ballistic missile that had passed through Japanese airspace. The Minister, underscoring the need for stern and tough responses to the nuclear test, suggested that the ROK and Japan step up coordination between them as well as among them and the US, including toward a new UN Security Council resolution calling for the enforcement of tough sanctions.

° Minister Kono, calling the sixth nuclear test by North Korea a head-on challenge to the international community as well as a grave and imminent threat to world peace and stability, stressed that in close collaboration between the ROK and Japan as well as among them and the US, North Korea must be made to clearly suffer the consequences of its sixth nuclear test.

3. The two Ministers reaffirmed that it is of paramount importance under the current circumstances to maintain close collaboration among the ROK, the US and Japan. They agreed to keep a close watch on the possibility of further provocations and other moves by North Korea, and to continuously engage in close, strategic communication with each other at diverse levels on the sidelines of such forthcoming events as the Eastern Economic Forum and the UN General Assembly session.


* unofficial translation