Seoul's chief nuclear envoy, Kim Gunn, held separate phone talks with his U.S. and Chinese counterparts on Friday and discussed North Korea's provocations.

In talks with U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim, the two sides agreed that North Korea has exacerbated the situation through its continued acts of hostility, not only with ballistic missile launches but also its recent use of drones.

According to Seoul's foreign ministry, the two officials concurred that any kind of provocation must be sternly dealt with, based on an unshakable combined readiness posture as they also discussed a unified response by the international community.

They also agreed to urge Beijing to play a more active role in compelling Pyongyang to cease such provocations and engage in denuclearization negotiations, which is ultimately in the best interest of South Korea, the U.S. and China.

Kim also spoke on the phone with Chinese nuclear envoy Liu Xiaoming and talked about North Korea's latest drone incursion, asking for Beijing to take on a greater role to prevent such provocations.

He proposed that the two sides continue communication to persuade Pyongyang to return to dialogue and called for China's cooperation at the UN Security Council to hold North Korea accountable for its repeated acts of hostility.