NORTH KOREA We reiterate that North Korea should remain a top priority on the international agenda. We condemn in the strongest terms North Korea’s nuclear tests and the ballistic missile launches, which have seen a dramatic rise since the beginning of 2016, that clearly violate its international obligations and pose an increasing threat to regional and international security, peace and the global non-proliferation regime. North Korea’s repeated breaches of international law pose new levels of challenges and call for a determined and effective reaction by the international community. We demand that North Korea’s leadership: refrain from any further nuclear tests or launches involving ballistic missile technology including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs); not engage in any other destabilizing or provocative actions; comply with relevant UN Security Council resolutions and its commitments under the Joint Statement of the Six-Party Talks of 19 September 2005; and return - at an early date - to the Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and IAEA Safeguards. Reiterating the international community’s firm opposition to North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons, we reaffirm that North Korea must abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear and ballistic missile programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner. We are determined to strengthen measures aimed at achieving these objectives. We welcome the unanimous adoption of the UN Security Council Resolution 2321 (2016) and we call on the international community to ensure the sustained, comprehensive and thorough implementation of this resolution and all other relevant UN Security Council resolutions. In this regard, we share the view that it is important to increase international capacity-building efforts to ensure that current UN sanctions regimes are effectively implemented. We remain concerned about the ongoing systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations in North Korea, including possible crimes against humanity, as documented in the 2014 Report of the UN Commission of Inquiry. We deplore that in order to develop its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programmes, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, critical State resources are diverted from primary needs such as the welfare and the livelihood of the people in North Korea. We urge North Korea to take steps towards restoring cooperation with the UN and to promptly address the international community’s humanitarian and human rights concerns, including the immediate resolution of the abductions issue. We express concern regarding the exploitation of workers sent abroad Joint Communiqué | G7 FOREIGN MINISTERS MEETING 20