South Korean Officials Call Firm Response Prepared If North Korea Takes A Nuclear Trial

North Korea's ICBM-17 missile test. (Source: KCNA)

JAKARTA - South Korea's National Security Adviser said he and his colleagues from the United States and Japan had agreed there would be no soft response if North Korea conducted a nuclear test, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday.

Kim Sung-han made the comments after trilateral talks with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Japan's Akiba Takeo in Hawaii, amid signs North Korea had completed preparations for its first nuclear test since 2017.

"If North Korea conducts the seventh nuclear test, our three countries, together with the international community, will maximize cooperation so that (North Korea) realizes that it is a clear wrong choice," Kim told reporters.

"We have agreed that there should be no complacent thoughts or responses, that North Korea has carried out other nuclear tests other than six tests it has tested."

This week's meeting marked the first meeting of three officials since South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol took office in May.

Previously, North Korea, which has nuclear weapons, had carried out missile tests, with unprecedented speeds since the start of this year.

In mid-August, North Korea fired two cruise missiles from its west coast, after South Korea and the United States resumed its largest field drills in years.

Pyongyang is known to have long denounced the drills as training for war.

Separately, South Korea's foreign minister said Pyongyang was likely to face tougher sanctions aimed at limiting its cyber attack capabilities, key funding sources, if the country continued other nuclear tests.