The United States, South Korea and Japan must coordinate more closely on North Korea, with whom they are engaged in a "pre-negotiation bargaining process," a former Japanese defense official has said.
North Korea's Kim Jong Un has shown no sign of willingness to give in to U.S. demands and negotiate away a nuclear and missile programs, in defiance of United Nations Security Council sanctions.
But despite the tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, the two Koreas held their first talks in two years on Tuesday and agreed to meet again.