BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei: Asia-Pacific nations sent a "very strong message" to North Korea on Tuesday that it must dismantle its nuclear programme, Seoul's top diplomat said.
Foreign ministers from the United States, China, Russia and across the region held a meeting in Brunei as part of an annual forum on security issues, with the nuclear-capable North a top focus.
"Most ministers at the meeting expressed a very strong message to the North Korean delegation that they should denuclearise, they should refrain from provocative action," South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se told reporters on the meeting's sidelines.
"So they have to listen to these messages very seriously."
A day earlier, US Secretary of State John Kerry said after talks with his counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea on the Brunei meeting's sidelines that the four of them were united on the issue.
Kerry said he and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi "both reaffirmed strongly the seriousness" of commitment to the denuclearisation of North Korea.
China is the main ally of North Korea, which defiantly carried out its third nuclear weapons test in February and threatened to attack the United States, in language that was shrill even by the standards of the reclusive communist state.
US officials have credited China with taking a firmer line against the North Korean regime headed by Kim Jong-Un, as part of international sanctions. (AFP)
