Seoul:  In order to prevent North Korea from using these methods to fund its nuclear programme, South Korea, the US, and Japan called for stronger international support of initiatives to stop the North from sending workers abroad and to rein in its cybercrimes.

The top nuclear envoys from South Korea, the US, and Japan got together on Friday in Seoul for their first meeting in four months to talk about how to deal with North Korea's expanding nuclear arsenal.

Recent North Korean weapons tests demonstrate that, rather than restarting negotiations, the North is intent on acquiring more sophisticated missiles intended to attack the US and its allies.

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North Korea continues to invest a large portion of its limited resources in its nuclear and missile programmes despite 11 rounds of UN sanctions and hardships brought on by the pandemic that have made its economic and food issues worse.

The North's illicit cyber activities, including crypto hacking, are also likely funding its weapons programme, as are the wages sent by North Korean workers who have remained in China, Russia, and other countries despite a previous UN order to return them by the end of 2019, according to experts.

According to Seoul's Foreign Ministry, the envoys of South Korea, the United States, and Japan urged the international community to strictly abide by UN resolutions on the prohibition of North Korean workers abroad in a joint statement.

According to the ministry, a sizable number of North Koreans continue to work in the global economy and send money to the North's weapons programmes. According to the report, the three envoys made an effort to draw attention to the North Korean workers because as the COVID-19 situation around the world improves, the North may further reopen its international borders.

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"We must ensure that its provocations are never tolerated. At the beginning of the meeting, the South Korean representative, Kim Gunn, made televised remarks stating that his country would "effectively counter North Korea's future provocations and cut their revenue streams that fund these illegal activities."

The US representative, Sung Kim, stated that North Korea poses a threat to the security and prosperity of the entire international community with its nuclear and missile programmes as well as its "malicious cyber programme that targets countries and individuals around the globe."

According to South Korea's spy agency, more than half of the estimated $1.2 billion (1.5 trillion won) in cryptocurrency and other virtual assets stolen by North Korean hackers over the course of five years was taken last year.

Because North Korea has concentrated on cybercrimes since UN economic sanctions were tightened in 2017 in response to its nuclear and missile tests, the National Intelligence Service claimed that North Korea has among the best capabilities in the world to steal digital assets.

North Korea, which has previously warned that the three countries' moves to increase their security cooperation prompted urgent calls to strengthen its own military capability, will probably be incensed by Friday's trilateral meeting.

North Korea has long claimed that US-led military drills in the area and UN sanctions against Pyongyang are evidence of Washington's animosity. Although US and South Korean officials have repeatedly stated that they have no intention of invading the North, the North has claimed that it was forced to develop nuclear weapons in order to counter US military threats.

In their first such training in six months, the United States and South Korean and Japanese forces engaged in anti-submarine naval drills earlier this week. In a separate, bilateral aerial training exercise, the US also used bombers with nuclear capability with South Korean warplanes.

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In response to those US-led drills, North Korea has not conducted any nuclear or missile tests. However, it conducted a series of missile tests last month in retaliation for earlier South Korean-US military exercises that it viewed as a practise invasion.

Since North Korea unveiled a new type of nuclear warhead last week, there are also worries that it may conduct its first nuclear test in more than five years. Experts from other countries disagree on whether North Korea has created warheads that are small and light enough to fit on missiles.