News Story: Australia, Japan, U.S. defense heads agree to up pressure on N. Korea

SINGAPORE (Kyodo) -- The defense ministers of Australia, Japan and the United States agreed Saturday on the need to step up pressure on North Korea at a time when the international community is struggling to find effective ways to tackle its growing nuclear-missile threat.

The agreement was reached between Marise Payne of Australia, Tomomi Inada of Japan and Jim Mattis of the United States during a meeting in Singapore that took place on the sidelines of Asia's annual premier security forum, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Inada told reporters after the meeting that they shared the perception that it is not the right time to seek dialogue with North Korea.

Read the full story at The Mainichi