South Korea, the United States and Japan are set to hold high-level talks this week as tensions persist over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs with indications of an imminent atomic weapons test. 
On Tuesday, South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam is scheduled to meet with his US and Japanese counterparts in Seoul to discuss their response to North Korea's continued provocations following its fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch in February, Yonhap news agency reported Monday. 
The three-way consultations will bring together Lim, US Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki to discuss the implementation of the UN sanctions as well as each country's unilateral sanctions against the North. 
The vice ministers are also expected to send a strong warning to Pyongyang that any further provocations will be met by stronger punishments from the international community. 
The meeting comes on the heels of last month's trilateral summit in Washington during which the three countries' leaders agreed to take further steps to strengthen their security cooperation in the face of the growing threat posed by North Korea's missile and nuclear programs. 
On Monday, President Park Geun-hye ordered the military to be ready to sternly retaliate should North Korea stage another provocation, saying signs of "preparations for a fifth nuclear test have been detected". 
Concerns have grown that North Korea may test another nuclear device or missile to mark the birthday of its late founding leader, Kim Il-sung, which fell on Friday, and next month's congress of the ruling Workers' Party. 
The trilateral consultations were first held in Washington in April last year and again in Tokyo in January.

Source: QNA