The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States, Australia and India on Friday urged all U.N. members not to trade weapons with North Korea, as Pyongyang has been trying to expand its military collaboration with Moscow.
At their talks on the sidelines of the annual session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, the ministers from the four-way grouping, known as "the Quad," also agreed to enhance cooperation toward achieving their vision of a "free and open Indo-Pacific."
The ministers shared the view that their countries will oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo by force, apparently with Russia's aggression against Ukraine and China's growing maritime assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region in mind.