SEOUL/WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- The leaders of South Korea and the United States have agreed to enhance Seoul's deterrence against North Korea by increasing its missile capabilities, but also reaffirmed the need to bring the communist state back to the dialogue table, Seoul's presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said Saturday.
The agreement came in a telephone conversation between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, on Friday, three days after Pyongyang staged its latest missile provocation.
"President Moon and President Trump reaffirmed their view that it was important to have North Korea come out to the dialogue table to peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear issue by applying maximum sanctions and pressure on the North," Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park Soo-hyun said in a press release.
North Korea fired what is believed to have been an intermediate range ballistic missile that flew over Japanese territory on Tuesday, prompting a fresh condemnation from the U.N. Security Council.
After the latest missile provocation, Trump said dialogue with the communist North was "not the answer."
In their talks, Moon denounced the North's latest missile launch, calling it a serious provocation that violated U.N. Security Council resolutions and raised military tension in the region, according to Park.
Trump stressed the importance of sending a strong and clear message to the reclusive North.
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