Japan and South Korea agreed Wednesday to coordinate their responses to North Korea's nuclear threats despite strained ties between the two countries, a report said, according to dpa. Hwang Joon-Kook, South Korea's top nuclear envoy, said in Tokyo that his country "backs Japan's efforts to resolve the abduction issue (with North Korea) as a humanitarian issue," the Kyodo News agency reported. Hwang was referring to Japan's policy of gradually easing its unilateral sanctions on North Korea, depending on progress in Pyongyang's promised investigation into the abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s. He said Seoul hopes such efforts "will not affect trilateral and international coordination over North Korea's nuclear and missile programme," referring to coordination with the United States. Hwang met with Japanese officials including Junichi Ihara, director general of the Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau at the Foreign Ministry. Hwang said they both expressed "deep concern" about recent launches of ballistic missiles by North Korea.
