“North Korea’s ballistic and nuclear tests are an affront to the United Nations Security Council,” North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a joint announcement in Tokyo, where he met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“They pose a global threat which requires a global response,” Secretary General Stoltenberg said.
Pyongyang has undertaken an unprecedented missile testing programme in recent months, as well as its biggest nuclear test yet in early September.
Secretary General Stoltenberg’s trip to Tokyo comes ahead of US President Donald Trump’s first official visit to Asia, which starts in Japan on Sunday.
Talks about North Korea are expected to dominate a trip that will include a stop in Beijing, where Trump is expected to pressure China’s leadership to act more decisively against Pyongyang. China is North Korea’s major ally and trading partner.
“Rather than dialogue it is necessary to cause North Korea to change policies by raising the pressure to the maximum,” Prime Minister Abe said in a joint announcement with Secretary General Stoltenberg.
President Trump has warned North Korea it would be totally destroyed if it threatened the United States with ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.
North Korea stoked tensions last week when it reiterated a threat to conduct an atmospheric nuclear test over the Pacific Ocean in a demonstration of its nuclear capability.