Japan, the United States and South Korea should jointly issue a strong warning to North Korea if Pyongyang shows signs of attempting to launch another missile, visiting U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen and Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura agreed Thursday.
Komura told a news conference that during their Tokyo meeting Thursday morning, he told Cohen that a joint warning should be "strong enough to discourage North Korea from missile launch attempts."
Cohen agreed on this point and both shared the view that Tokyo, Washington and Seoul should continue to closely cooperate concerning developments on the Korean Peninsula, Komura said.
Also at the meeting, Komura briefed Cohen about his just-concluded visit to the Middle East and Tokyo's efforts to keep the region's peace process intact.
On Iraq, Cohen flatly denied recent reports on the possibility of dividing the Islamic state into three parts in accordance with ethnicity, according to Komura.
Cohen instead reaffirmed that Iraq's integrity as one nation would be respected, adding that he has no intention to dispute that matter, Komura quoted him as saying. Cohen also paid a 30-minute courtesy call on Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi later in the day.