(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S., Japan agree on strong response in case of N. Korea's nuke test

All News 07:42 September 02, 2022

(ATTN: UPDATES with additional remarks, more details, background from 5th para; ADDS photo)

HONOLULU, Sept. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea, Japan and the United States agreed to stern measures against a new nuclear test by North Korea, South Korea's top security adviser said Thursday, adding the countries' reaction will be different from those of the past.

Kim Sung-han made the remarks after a trilateral meeting with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts -- Jake Sullivan and Akiba Takeo Akiba -- in Honolulu.

"(We) agreed that there must not be naive thinking or reaction that North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests and that (a new test) will only be one more nuclear test," Kim told reporters before heading home.

"Should North Korea conduct its seventh nuclear test, our reaction will certainly be different from those until now," he added.

National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han leaves for Hawaii at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on Aug. 31, 2022, to attend a meeting with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Jake Sullivan and Takeo Akiba, respectively. (Yonhap)

Officials in Seoul and Washington earlier said the North appears to have completed "all preparations" for a nuclear test and that it may only be gauging the timing.

Pyongyang conducted its sixth and last nuclear test in September 2017.

The three-way meeting between the top national security advisers of South Korea, Japan and the U.S. marked the first of its kind in 16 months, as well as the first since Kim took office earlier this year.

Kim said the three countries have also agreed to take joint efforts against any actions that disturb global supply chains.

Thursday's meeting followed bilateral talks between Kim and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts

Kim earlier said Sullivan has agreed to have the White House National Security Council look into South Korea's concerns over the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act.

The act, signed into law on Aug. 16, allows a government credit of up to US$7,500 for each electric vehicle purchase, but only to cars built with batteries produced in the U.S., excluding all South Korean exports from the benefit despite the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement that guarantees South Korean products the same treatment as domestic goods or those from a most favored nation.