(VOVworld) – The chief nuclear envoys from Japan, South Korea, and the US agreed on Wednesday in Tokyo to seek stronger cooperation to increase pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile ambitions. The three countries will together effectively implement a series of sanctions imposed on North Korea by the UN Security Council in response to its 4^th nuclear test in January and the launch of a rocket carrying a missile into orbit that was said to be a cover for another nuclear test.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches the ballistic rocket launch drill of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army. (Photo: Reuters)

South Korea’s military said on Tuesday that a North Korean missile launch had likely failed.  South Korea's defense ministry refused to talk about what type of missile was launched but a local news agency cited military sources as saying that North Korea had launched the intermediate-range Musudan missile used in its 3 previous launches so far this year, which all failed.