(2nd LD) S. Korea, U.S., Japan pledge joint action against N. Korea

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout; ADDS comments by Japanese, U.S. ministers)
By Sam Kim
SINGAPORE, May 30 (Yonhap) -- The defense ministers of South Korea, the United
States and Japan pledged Saturday to press North Korea until the communist state
understands it will not be rewarded for its provocation.
The talks between the defense heads of the three countries took place on the
sidelines of a security forum in Singapore, less than a week after Pyongyang
conducted its second atomic test.
The meeting, the first of its kind, also coincided with apparent preparations by
North Korea to test-launch a long-range ballistic missile on its east coast.
"The talks could not have come at a better time," South Korean Defense Minister
Lee Sang-hee told reporters after his meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates and Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada.
"North Korea may have mistakenly believed that it could perhaps be rewarded. But
that is no longer the case." Lee said, adding that the three ministers converged
on the thought.
"We must make North Korea clearly recognize it will not be rewarded for its wrong
behavior," he said.
Gates stressed the significance of cooperation between the three countries to
address the threat posed by North Korea, which has fired a series of short-range
missiles since the nuclear test Monday.
"Of course, the bulk of our conversation focused on North Korea," said Gates, who
said earlier in the day that his country would hold North Korea "fully
accountable" for consequences if it is found to proliferate its nuclear and
weapons technology.
"Our goal is complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We
will not accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state," he said, speaking
alongside his counterparts.
"It is important for the Republic of Korea, Japan and the United States to work
together, along with others, to combat this problem multilaterally," Gates said.
"My sense, being here this weekend, is that there's a commitment to do just
that."
"We were able to agree on close trilateral cooperation on response toward North
Korea," Hamada said. "We would like to further develop our trilateral
cooperation."
Thanking South Korea and Japan for their participation in a U.S.-led anti-piracy
campaign in the Gulf of Aden, Gates said the three agreed on the need to bring
attention to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"We also agreed that the mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan demands the full
attention of the international community," he said without elaboration.
South Korea are Japan are two of the longest-running security allies the U.S. has
in Asia.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)