By Kiyoshi Takenaka

TOKYO (Reuters) – The USA, Japan and South Korea warned on Wednesday that an “unprecedented” response could be warranted if North Korea conducts a seventh nuclear bomb take a look at.

Washington and its allies consider North Korea could also be on the verge of resuming nuclear bomb testing for the primary time since 2017.

“We agreed {that a} response of unprecedented scale could be required if North Korea conducts a seventh nuclear take a look at,” South Korea’s First Deputy International Minister Cho Hyun-dong mentioned throughout a briefing. press convention in Tokyo.

Cho was talking alongside his Japanese and American counterparts, Deputy International Minister Takeo Mori and Beneath Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.

“We urge (North Korea) to chorus from additional provocations,” Sherman mentioned, calling them “reckless and deeply destabilizing for the area.”

“Every little thing that occurs right here, like a North Korean nuclear take a look at… has safety implications all over the world,” she mentioned, sending a thinly veiled message to supporters in Pyongyang, the China and Russia on the UN Safety Council.

“Certainly, we hope that each one members of the Safety Council will perceive that any use of a nuclear weapon will change the world in unbelievable methods.”

For the primary time since North Korea started testing nuclear weapons in 2006, China and Russia this 12 months vetoed a US-led push for extra Safety Council sanctions.

North Korea has carried out weapons exams at an unprecedented price this 12 months, firing greater than two dozen ballistic missiles, together with one which flew over Japan.

Angered by South Korea’s army actions, Pyongyang final week fired lots of of artillery shells off its coast in what it known as a grave warning to its southern neighbor.

In September, the USS Ronald Reagan and accompanying ships carried out joint army workout routines with South Korean forces in response to a North Korean ballistic missile take a look at as a part of their first joint army coaching involving a provider. -American plane since 2017.

In response, the USA, South Korea and Japan pledged to deepen their cooperation, Mori mentioned.

“We agreed to additional strengthen the deterrence and response functionality of the Japan-US alliance and the US-Korea alliance, and promote deeper safety cooperation between the three nations,” Mori mentioned. .

Amid rising tensions between China and Taiwan, Sherman reiterated the US place that it doesn’t assist Taiwanese independence, however that doesn’t forestall it from working with Japan and South Korea. to assist Taiwan shield itself.

“The USA has repeatedly mentioned publicly that we don’t assist Taiwan independence, however we need to guarantee peace, and so we are going to do the whole lot we will to assist Taiwan and work with Japan and the Republic of Korea to make sure that Taiwan can defend itself,” Sherman mentioned.

At a Communist Get together assembly this month, Chinese language President Xi Jinping known as for accelerating China’s plans to construct a world-class army and mentioned his nation would by no means surrender the correct to make use of drive. to resolve the Taiwan drawback.

China says Taiwan has ruled democratically as its personal territory, whereas the Taiwan authorities strongly opposes China’s sovereignty claims and says solely the island’s 23 million folks can resolve its future.