SEOUL– South Korea’s top nuclear envoy on Friday held back-to-back phone consultations with his United States and Chinese counterparts to discuss ways to prevent North Korea from engaging in further provocations and make it return to denuclearization talks, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.

In their consultations, Kim Gunn, Seoul’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, and his U.S. counterpart, Sung Kim, stressed the need to sternly respond to any type of provocations by the North based on the Seoul-Washington combined defense posture.

The two sides also deplored that Pyongyang was wasting its financial resources on “reckless nuclear and missile development, and military provocations” while ignoring the difficulties of its people.

In his separate consultations with Liu Xiaoming, Beijing’s top nuclear envoy, Kim asked China to take a more active role to have North Korea refrain from further provocations. The Seoul envoy requested for Beijing’s active cooperation to hold Pyongyang responsible for its repeated and illegal provocations.

According to the ministry, Liu reaffirmed China’s willingness to play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and realizing the country’s denuclearization.

Source: Yonhap News Agency