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President Moon Jae-in discusses the recent North Korean missile launch during a phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Aug. 30. (provided by Blue House)

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed in a telephone conversation on Aug. 30 to raise pressure on Pyongyang “to the extreme” so that it “takes the first step toward dialogue.” The conversation came one day after a North Korean-launched ballistic missile passed through Japanese airspace.

Blue House spokesperson Park Soo-hyun explained that the two leaders “had a 25-minute telephone conversation at 9:30 this morning in which they agreed to pursue a UN Security Council sanctions resolution with more concrete and effective countermeasures against North Korea, and to spearhead South Korea-US-Japan discussions in the process while working together to solicit cooperation from China and Russia.”

Moon also said, “The launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) through Japanese airspace is not just a provocation, but an act of violence against a neighboring country.”

For his part, Abe was quoted by the Japanese government as saying the “violence of a missile launch through our country[’s airspace] is a serious and grave threat that has never before existed, making it clear that North Korea is not prepared to engage in dialogue.”

“Now is the time to raise the pressure further,” Abe also reportedly said.

The conversation on Aug. 30 took place at Abe’s request, and the two leaders appear likely to hold additional discussions on North Korean missile provocations when they meet early next month at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

The Japanese press speculated that with the two sides jointly pressuring North Korea with additional sanctions after the latest launch, they may be considering restrictions on petroleum exports as a means of dealing a decisive blow against the North Korean economy.

“President Moon has recently said on many occasions that it is ‘time to ratchet up sanctions and pressure,’” a Blue House official said while meeting with reporters.

“A halt to crude oil supplies and restrictions on petroleum products were two areas seen as lacking in the last [UNSC] sanctions resolution,” the official noted.

Meanwhile, Blue House National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong arrived in San Francisco and met with White House National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster and Japanese National Security Advisor Shotaro Yachi to discuss trilateral security cooperation as part of a closed-door schedule in the wake of the North Korean missile launch, sources reported.

By Jung Yu-gyung, staff reporter and Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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