(VOVworld) – Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop agreed at a meeting in Tokyo on the need to adopt a strong UN Security Council resolution against North Korea in the wake of its recent nuclear test and rocket launch. Kishida said the international community must send a strong message to North Korea, whose actions pose a “direct and grave” threat to Japan.

Yesterday, the Yonhap news agency quoted South Korean Reunification Minister Hong Yong-pyo as saying that there was no “clear evidence” wages paid to North Korean workers in a joint industrial zone were used to fund Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development. The statement was contrary to his claim one day earlier that most of the wages paid to North Korean workers in Kaesong was syphoned off to the ruling government to develop missiles, nuclear weapons, and luxury items.