Quad ministers condemn North Korea's nuclear pursuit

Washington, July 29 (IANS) The top diplomats of the United States, Japan, India and Australia condemned North Korea's rocket launches and its pursuit of nuclear arms, and renewed their commitment to the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" during their talks in Tokyo on Monday.

They issued a joint statement following a foreign ministerial meeting of the Quad forum, where they discussed a wide range of regional and global issues, including maritime security, emerging technologies and cybersecurity.

"We condemn North Korea's destabilizing launches using ballistic missile technology and its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs)," they said in the statement.

"We express our grave concern over North Korea's use of proliferation linkages, malicious cyber activity and workers abroad to fund its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes," they added.

They called for the North's return to dialogue as concerns persisted that Pyongyang has been doubling down on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs in the absence of any meaningful diplomacy to at least limit its weapons programmes, reported Yonhap news agency.

"We reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula consistent with relevant UNSCRs, and we urge North Korea to abide by all its obligations under the UNSCRs and engage in substantive dialogue," they said.

In an apparent allusion to growing military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, the ministers touched on proliferation issues concerning the North.

"We stress the need to prevent any proliferation of nuclear and missile technologies related to North Korea in the region and beyond. In that context, we urge all UN Member States to abide by the related UNSCRs, including the prohibition on the transfer to North Korea or procurement from North Korea of all arms and related materiel," they said.

They also stressed their commitment to continued implementation of anti-North Korea sanctions as they noted that the mandate of a sanctions-monitoring U.N. expert panel has expired due to Russia's veto of a resolution on its renewal earlier this year.

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