Japan, Australia agree to keep pressure on N. Korea over nuclear weapons program

Australia and Japan on Wednesday reaffirmed their commitment to pressuring North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australia and Japan are committed to working closely with allies to ensure that North Korea is pressured to end its nuclear and missile programs, AP reports. Payne and Defense Minister Christopher Pyne were meeting in Sydney with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya. “We need to see real steps to complete, verifiable irreversible denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula, Payne said. Payne and Kono had discussed sanctions enforcement with the United State at last month’s UN General Assembly in New York. Iwaya said the “international community must remain united” to achieve the dismantling of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction.