U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama pledged their cooperation Thursday in condemning North Korea at the U.N. Security Council for the torpedoing of a South Korean warship, Yonhap News reported in Washington Thursday.
"President Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama spoke by telephone to discuss North Korea, Iran, and the U.S.-Japan alliance," spokesman Robert Gibbs quoted as saying, adding that Obama had the conversation aboard a flight to Chicago late in the day. "The two leaders condemned the North Korean torpedo attack on the ROK ship Cheonan and pledged to cooperate closely with the Republic of Korea, including in support of appropriate action by the UN Security Council."
ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.
South Korea is poised to raise the sinking of the Cheonan at the U.N. Security Council for tougher sanctions on Pyongyang, which is already under U.N. sanctions for missile and nuclear tests.
The Cheonan went down on March 26 near the inter-Korean maritime border, killing 46 sailors aboard. An international team concluded last week that a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine is responsible for the sinking, but North Korea denies involvement and threatens an all-out war if sanctioned.
China and Russia, North Korea's traditional allies with veto power at the Security Council, have yet to officially blame the North, calling for restraints by relevant parties.
Obama and Hatoyama also "called on North Korea to end its provocative behavior towards its neighbors and to abide by its commitment to eliminate its nuclear-weapons program and to fulfill its other international obligations."