G-7 ministers will never accept North Korea until it remains armed: Japanese foreign minister

On Sunday, group of seven foreign ministers (The G-7 ministers) announced that they will never accept North Korea until it remains armed and further pledged to continue "maximum pressure" on Pyongyang until it rids itself of nuclear weapons, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said.

Kono further stated that Pyongyang’s announcement of denuclearisation, suspend nuclear tests and long-range missile launches were insufficient to meet the demands of the international community. His comment came after US President Donald Trump incorrectly asserted over Twitter on Sunday morning that North Korea had agreed to denuclearization.

The G-7 ministers called for North Korea to abandon all weapons of mass destruction, including biological and chemical weapons, and its ballistic missile programmes, including short- and medium-range missiles capable of hitting South Korea and Japan, according to Kono.

The other G-7 members – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United States plus the European Union – meanwhile backed Kono’s call for the immediate resolution of North Korea’s abduction of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s.

Meanwhile, the nuclear envoys of South Korea and Japan met on Monday to talk about the denuclearization of North Korea ahead of the Korean summit. 

Lee Do-hoon, South Korea's top nuclear negotiator, held the meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Kenji Kanasugi, in Seoul which comes before two important South Korean summits with North Korea and the United States.

"There are many significant events in the near future, which are the inter-Korean summit, followed by the U.S.-North Korea summit," Lee Do-hoon said.

Lee Do-hoon further believed that such meetings would strengthen the process of denuclearisation of North Korea.

Earlier on April 21, China hailed North Korea decision to suspend its nuclear operations that is said to further promote denuclearization of the region.