Japan will continue to pressure North Korea rather than encouraging dialogue over its internationally condemned nuclear and ballistic missile programs, Foreign Minister Taro Kono said Monday as the Diet kicked off a 150-day ordinary session.
"Dialogue in the absence of pressure cannot move North Korea toward denuclearization," Kono said, dismissing an idea promoted chiefly by China that talking with the North can resolve the issue.
Kono spoke days after meeting with foreign ministers and other officials from the United States, South Korea and 17 other countries in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he warned that the resumption this month of talks between North and South Korea is an attempt by Pyongyang to buy time to forge on with its weapons programs.