Japan and Canada on Saturday pledged to maintain "maximum pressure" on North Korea to compel it to give up its nuclear and missile programs, judging that Pyongyang's decision to suspend nuclear tests and long-range missile launches was not sufficient to meet the demands of the international community.
Meeting on the eve of a two-day meeting of the Group of Seven foreign ministers in Toronto, Foreign Minister Taro Kono and his Canadian counterpart, Chrystia Freeland, affirmed they will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
Kono and Freeland vowed to maintain pressure and sanctions at the maximum level so as to force North Korea to abandon all weapons of mass destruction and missiles in a complete, verifiable and irreversible fashion, the ministry said.