Korea Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York City, Monday. YONHAP/VNA Photo

NEW YORK The top diplomats of Japan, the United States and South Korea on Monday called on North Korea to resume dialogue even as it shows no signs of giving up its nuclear ambitions.

After a meeting in New York, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said in a joint statement that the three countries upheld their "resolute commitment" to the complete denuclearization of North Korea.

North Korea has long sought to be recognised as a nuclear weapons power, demanding that status as one of the preconditions for resuming talks with the United States.

US President Donald Trump, in making fresh diplomatic overtures toward North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month, referred to the Asian country possessing at least "57 very powerful nuclear weapons," but his administration, as well as Japan and South Korea, refuses to give the status to Pyongyang.

A day before Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's planned talks with Trump in New York, Motegi had a brief one-on-one meeting with Rubio, during which they discussed developments in the Indo-Pacific region, according to Japan's Foreign Ministry.

Motegi and Rubio also discussed the situation in Iran, the ministry said, adding that the Japanese minister said free and safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz without additional costs is important. KYODO