President Moon Jae-in spoke on the phone with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 5:37 to 6:11 this afternoon to discuss in depth how to respond to a series of North Korean provocations, including missile launches following its sixth nuclear test.

The two leaders strongly denounced the North for carrying out yet another missile provocation today in disregard of the firm and concerted determination and stance of the international community against North Korean nuclear and missile provocations illustrated by the adoption of United Nations Security Council resolution 2375.

President Moon expressed his empathy and sympathy for the threats and fears felt by the Japanese people when North Korea fired yet another missile over Japanese territory after the same type of provocation on August 29.

The two leaders shared an understanding that they and the international community should implement U.N. Security Council resolutions to the letter, impose maximum sanctions and pressure on the North and leave it with no other option but to come forward to the dialogue table. They reached an agreement to reaffirm the unified determination of the international community at the United Nations General Assembly scheduled for next week and together seek out decisive and practical steps to elicit a change of attitude from the North.

President Moon expressed his complete agreement on the need to react firmly to the provocations by North Korea. He proposed also that the two countries work together to ensure stable management of the situation to prevent any overreaction to North Korea`s threats from further intensifying tensions and leading to accidental clashes.

The Japanese Prime Minister said that we all never want to see the colossal damage that would be caused by war on the Korean Peninsula. He made a proposal that the two countries continue to work closely together to make the North change its policy and protect the peoples of both Korea and Japan. 

In response to Prime Minister Abe`s remarks on the South Korean Government`s humanitarian aid project for the North through international organizations, President Moon said that his Administration had reviewed the issue at the request of the World Food Programme and the United Nations Children`s Fund for the project to provide aid to infants and pregnant women in North Korea. In this connection, the President added that in principle, the matter of supporting infants and pregnant women had to be dealt with irrespective of the political situation.

In addition, the President said the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Council would take into account the overall state of affairs, including inter-Korean relations and North Korea’s continued nuclear and missile provocations, and make decisions on related issues such as the timing of the assistance. The President went on to say that even when the humanitarian assistance is provided someday, it must consist of merchandise, not cash, and absolutely be distributed to those in need, including pregnant mothers and babies. The President also explained that the assistance should be based on a premise that the monitoring of the distribution process should be properly carried out. 

During their phone conversation, the two leaders gave high marks to the cooperation between the two countries in response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations and agreed to continue close communications on various levels, utilizing various opportunities such as the U.N. General Assembly.

The phone call was made only eight days after the Korea-Japan bilateral summit was held on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum on September 7. It was President Moon’s seventh phone conversation with Prime Minister Abe since his inauguration.